Skip to main content

Full text of "Mornings with Mama; Or, Dialogues on Scripture for Young Persons ..."

See other formats 


Google 



This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project 

to make the world's books discoverable online. 

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject 

to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books 

are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover. 

Marks, notations and other maiginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the 

publisher to a library and finally to you. 

Usage guidelines 

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the 
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing tliis resource, we liave taken steps to 
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying. 
We also ask that you: 

+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for 
personal, non-commercial purposes. 

+ Refrain fivm automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine 
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the 
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help. 

+ Maintain attributionTht GoogXt "watermark" you see on each file is essential for in forming people about this project and helping them find 
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it. 

+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just 
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other 
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of 
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner 
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liabili^ can be quite severe. 

About Google Book Search 

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers 
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web 

at |http: //books .google .com/I 







J,m^^""-^ 



SECOND SERIES. 



MORNINGS WITH MA». 



OR 



DIALOGUES ON SCRIPTURE 

FOR 

YOUNG PERSONS 

FROM 
TWELVE TO FOURTEEN YEARS OF AGE. 



! EDINBURGH : 

WILLIAM WHYTE & CO. 

BOOKSXLLXBS TO HBR MAJB8TY ; 

' /)NGMAN, REB8, ORME, BROWN, 6RREN, AND LONGMAN, LON 
\V. COLLINS, GLASGOW; AND W. CITRRY,JUN. AND CO. DUB1 

! . . ^ 

/' M.DCCC.^XXIII. 






Edinburgh : Wnted by A. tialfout and Cd. 



TO 

THE REVEREND DR. CHALMERS, 

THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE, 

WITH SINCERE RESPECT AND ESTEEM, 

INSCRIBED BY 

THE AUTHOR. 



INTRODUCTION. 



In offering (with the increased diffidence inseparable 
from a sense of undeserved fiivour,) to the parents and 
instmctors of youth, whose indulgent approbation 
sanctioned her former little volume, its present con- 
tinuation — the Authoress of ''Mornings with Mama" 
feels as if two slight observations might be necessary. 
The one explanatory of the selection — ^for a second 
Slices — of a subject antecedent in the order of Scrip- 
ture to that embraced by the Jirst; the other, relative 
to occasional deviations, (of which she is not un- 
aware,) from the juvenile simplicity of style which 
she endeavoiu'ed to maintain throughout her former 
conversations. 

Both have been, in a great measure, involuntary. 
The actual studies of a Sabbath school, affording the 
Author's chief key to the understanding and feelings 
of children, suggested the subject ; and if, from its 
more elevated and spiritual nature, her explanations 
have insensibly risen above their former infantine^ 



VI INTRODUCTION. 

level, she is the less disposed to reg^ret it, from the 
belief, tliat religious works, calculated to attract young 
persons from twelve to fourteen, are at present less 
abundant than those of a similar description for mere 
children. 

For the moral and religious reflections contained in 
these dialogues, which have, as before, arisen ^K>nta- 
neously from a perusal of the chapters themselves, 
the Authoress fears she must be responsible ; although 
indebted (as may readily be perceived) for much in- 
teresting information on other points, to the admira- 
ble work of Dr. Graves on the Pentateuch, and si- 
milar eminent authorities. 

And now, her little contribution, such as it is, to 
the spiritual " nurture and admonition" of the young, 
is again committed, in trembling hope, to the blessing 
of Him, who hath said that the mere temporal re- 
freshment of a " cup of cold water" given in His 
name to one of His " little ones," shall ** in no wise 
fail of its reward." 



yODII! 

Qtlei 

ID. MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 



p^/j SECOND SERIES. 

^ INTRODUCTORY DIALOGUE. 

Mama. Few things, my dear Mary, haye 
afforded me more gratification, in returning to 
you after a painful but necessary absence, than 
your eagerly expressed wish that we should re- 
sume the course of scriptural readings and con- 
versations which interested you so much last win- 
ter. You have since read, you tell me, with 

I greatly increased attention, and, I trust in God, 
with increased advantage, many portions of your 
Bible ; but conscientiously as this duty has been 

I enforced by those who kindly undertook for me 

' a troublesome charge, you say you have daily 
and sadly missed that minuteness of inquiry and 
unrestrained flow of conversational illustrationy 
only perhaps to be expected from an anxious pa- 

I rent. May God, who by the instinctive dili- 

B A 



22 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

gence of the fowls of the air, rebukes the neglect i 
of many a mother in providing spiritual nou- \ 
rishment for her helpless ofispring, bless to us \ 
both, endeavours begun and continued in his ■ 
strength alone ! 

Mary. Mama ! What shall we read this ^ 
time ? I wish I might choose. 

Mama. I am half tempted to let you do so, - 
so fondly but partially, perhaps, do I reckon on - 
that rational thirst for information and dawning 
intelligence in spiritual things which it made me 
so happy to observe in you, when we last talked 
together. What part of scripture would you wish 
me to level, as fer as I can, to your capacity ? 

Mary. I am much puzzled to choose, Mama, 
there are so many I should like to know better. 
But perhaps we shall go through them all in time, 
and just now I want you to tell me regularly the 
history of the Israelites coming out of Egypt It 
is very entertaining to read about them in the 
wilderness, and I have often tried to do it, but 
what happened to them is so mixed up, Mama, 
with laws, and names of people and j^aces, and 
directions about building the tabernacle, and 
killing the beasts for sacrifice, that I find it hard 
to pick it out properly, and never know exactly 
which chapters concern us and which the Jews 
only. 



TNTRODUCTOKT DIALOGUE. 3 

Mama. There is scarcely a word in the Bible, 
my dear, which does not, more or less, concern 
U8; and learned men have drawn curious and 
most unexpected edification from the minutest 
particulars of the Mosaic ritual. But into these 
you are too young to enter, and I gladly comply 
with your wish to have the history of God's cho- 
sen people, separated from their peculiar insti- 
tutions, for your present instruction. I shall only 
remark, that the very blending of subjects and ap- 
parent irregularity, of which you complain in the 
books of Moses, is the strongest proof of their 
having been written on the spot, and in the midst 
of the transactions they record. A later histo- 
rian, not an eye-witness, would have given us a 
methodical narrative, (as, indeed, has been done 
by a clever Jew called Josephus) instead of a 
daily chronicle of events the most various and 
unconnecte(tein This premised, we shall take up 
the thread at ifae departure of the children of 
Israel from Egypt in the beginning of Exodus, 
and pursue the history of their wanderings, as 
scattered through the subsequent books of Num- 
bers and Deuteronomy, down to the final exhor- 
tations and death of Moses, their illustrious 
leader. 

. I know not that the whole Old Testament could 
We fiimished us with a richer field than the one 



4 MOBNINGS WITH MAMl. 

you have unconsciously chosen, and for the rea- 
sons you have yourself given, it is one difficult 
for youth unassisted to explore. We have great 
encouragement, thus, to investigate it, for what 
says the apostle ? << These things happened unto 
themy (the Israelites) for ensamples;" and hav- 
ing the benefit of his inspired commentary on 
many portions of their eventful history, it will 
be our own fault if we do not benefit by the warn- 
ings and instructions it holds out Let us read 
this, like every part of Scripture, with a Chris- 
tion spirit, and Gospel light will shed its saving 
illumination over the darkest pages of the record. 



r 
] 



MORNING nRST. 



Lesson. — Exodus, Chapters!, andii. 



j Mama. The book of Exodus, which signifies 
^ " coming out," or " departing," shews us the pos- 

terity of the patriarch Jacob settled and flou- 

1 risbing in Egypt. Can you tell me, Mary, what 
carried their &thers thither ? 

Mary. Oh I yes. They first went to buy 
com in a famine, and then took all their families 
with them, because Joseph, their good brother, 
invited them. 

Mama. How came Joseph to have power to 
^0 so in a foreign land ? 

Mary. Mama, every child knows that he 
saved the people of Egjrpt by laying up com for 
them, and was made next to the king in honour 
and authority for it. 

Mama. Very well and clearly told. Was 
this eminent man remembered long after his death 
by a grateful nation ? 

Mary. It says here, " A new king rose up 



i 



O MOBNINOS WITH MAMA. 

which knew not Joseph :" but it does not say how 
long after. 

Mama. See if you can find it out by one cir- 
cumstance. How many Israelites came origin- 
ally into Egypt ? 

Mary. " Seventy souls," Mama, besides Jo- 
seph, who was there already. 

Mama. Well I Seventy people do not " mul- 
tiply and wax exceeding mighty and fill a whole 
land" immediately. Turn to the 12th chapter, 
verse 37, and see how many souls went out of 

Egypt. 

Mary. " Six hundred thousand men,, besides 
children." Mama I how long this must have 
taken! 

Mama. About 260 years, and a wonderfiil 
increase it was for that period, under the special 
blessing of God, and in fulfilment of his promise 
made to Abraham, that <' his seed should be as 
the sand on the sea-shore for multitude ;" so sure 
is every word of God to come to pass I But what 
effect had this marvellous increase of these 
^< strangers and sojourners" on the fears of the 
Egyptians ? 

Mary. It made them use them very ill, in 
Slopes of lessening their numbers. How un- 
grateful and wicked besides I 
^ Mama. What was the nature of the cruelty 
and oppression exercised upon them ? 



10^ 



I MORMINO FIB8T. J 

Of Mary. << They made their lives bitter with 

hard bondage in mortar and in bricky and ail 
cir- their service was with rigour." 
po- Mama. And did all this '^ striving against 

God" produce the desired effect 1 
Jo Mary. No. *' The more they afflicted them, 

the more they multiplied and grew." 
Mama. What was their next expedient? a 
lolf most effectual one apparently. 
^ Mary. A shocking one, Mama I To make 
^ the Hebrew midwives kill ail the sons of their 

poor countrywomen. They were quite right to 
^^ refuse, but I wonder if the reason they gave for 
^ not doing it was iruey or if they were afraid to 

tell the truth. 
^ Mama. We may be sure their conduct was 
^ upright, Mary, from one circumstance, viz. that 

it was approved imd rewarded by God. How 

did he manifest this ? 
Mary. He *'made them houses." Does it 

mean that he built them finer ones than they had 

before? 

Mama. Think a little. Does the <^ house of 

Israel," or " house of Judah," we so oflen read of, 

mean a building ? 

Mary. No : a &mily or nation. 

'. Mama. Well I the " houses" spoken of here 

are the large and flourishing families bestowed 



8 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

upon these courageous women for their resista 
to a heathen tyrant, and fear of the living G 
a proof that ^' godliness is profitable in the 
that now is as well as that which is to con 
What barbarous order was next given for ex 
minating the devoted Israelites 

Mary. All the boys were to be thrown i 
the river, and the girls saved alive. Why w 
they spared ? 

Mama. That by their marrying Egyptian! 
trace of the Israelites as a separate people mi 
gradually be lost But do you know what ri 
is here meant ? Now is the time to apply y 
little geographical knowledge. 

Mary. It must have been the Nile, Ma: 
I know it runs through Egypt, and I believe th 
is no other. 

Mama. No, Mary ; and so important is it 
the existence of that country, as to be an obj 
of religious worship. We shall have to tall 
this iurther when we come to the << plagues.'* 

Mary. Mama I now comes dear little Mot 
and his ark of bulrushes I I have known ab' 
him all my life. 

Mama. Yes ! as an object of childish s^ 
pathy. You must now recognise in him 
chosen liberator of God's people* Of what tr 
was he? 



MOBNINO FIRST* 9 

^ Mary. Of the tribe of LevL How sorry his 
^' poor mother must have been when she could no 
ifc longer hide him ! 

^* Mama. Doubtless; but she was better off 
^^' than many in having not only a daughter but 

another son. You forget his elder brother 
J" Aaron. 
'" Mary. Oh I and how had he escaped ? 

Mama. The decree, it is supposed, was not 
^ in force at his birth, as he was three years older 
9^ than Moses. Still his mother was much to be 
^ pitied. How did she prove her faith in God ? 
>^ Mary. She put the dear child in an ark of 

bulrushes. What a frail useless thing that must 
^ have been, Mama ! It surely could not hold out 
^ water even for a moment. 

Mama. My dear, the word here translated 
^ ^ '* bulrushes," signifies the tall reed called *< pa- 
^ pynis," which grows by the banks of the Nile, 
^ ^ and of which many of the boats used on that 

river are still made. It was strong enough to 
^ have borne a far heavier weight, and, when pro- 
otf peily prepared, impervious to water. But how 

precarious was the life of an infant thus exposed I 

i^ There was the slow sure death of famine, if not 

^ speedily rescued by some charitable hand, and 

'i^. the more imminent peril arising from the aliiga- 

■■ tore or crocodiles with which the river abounds. 



10 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

Mary. Horrid monsters they are, Mama! 
Able to swallow poor Moses, ark and all, in a 
moment. 

Mama. Yes, if not restrained by the provi- 
dence which watched over him. Who was made 
the unconscious instrument of God*s ftiture de^ 
signs on the child ? * 

Mary. The daughter of Pharaoh. How odd 
that she should have gone to bathe that day ! 

Mama. And how far more striking, if, as 
is supposed, her compliance with an idolatrous 
custom in honour of the Nile, led to the signal 
triumph of true religion over idolatry, in her 
native land I Her being (as is mentioned by 
Josephus) a married woman without children, 
is another singular coincidence, and probably 
led to her adoption of the little foundling. 

Mary. How sensibly his sister behaved! 
And how nicely she managed his being nursed 
at home. His mother must have been so happy I 

Mama* Doubtless, my dear. But God had 
a far higher end in view in thus overruling 
events than even the reunion of a mother and 
her child. Had Moses been estranged even in 
infancy from his people, and brought up entirely 
at the court of Pharaoh, he might have been 
learned indeed " in all the wisdom of the Egypt- 
ians," but never could have sympathized in either 



MORNING FIRST. 1 1 

the religious feelings, or temporal miseries of his 
countrymen ; nor would probably have made, 
when he " came to years," that memorable 
choice recorded for our edification by an inspired 
apostle, viz. — << Reusing to be called the son of 
Pharaoh's daughter, and esteeming the reproach 
of Christ greater riches than the treasures of 

Egypt." 

Mary. Of Christy Mama ? Did the Israelites 
in Egypt believe in kim ? 

Mama. In a Saviour, or Redeemer, the en- 
lightened among them it is probable did ; 
though the spiritual nature of the redemption 
was as yet but darkly shadowed forth. But at 
all events, the resolution of Moses to renounce 
all this world could bestow, and " suffer afflic- 
tion with the people of God," may be traced to 
feelings awakened in the humble dwelling of his 
persecuted parents. How did he first show 
his interest in the oppressions of his country- 
men ? 

Mary. " When he saw an Egyptian smiting 
one of his brethren, he slew him." Had he any 
right to do this ? 

Mama. My dear, the taking of human life 
can only be justified by self-defence, or the no 
less imperative duty of saving another in immi- 
nent jeopardy. St. Stephen, in the Acts, says 



12 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

the poor Israelite was "suffering wrong," and 
had probably no way of escape but the one 
which Moses ("the meekest of men") must 
we are sure have reluctantly adopted. This is 
evident, from the necessity it laid him under^ 
when he found it known — of forsaking all his 
advantages at the court of Pharaoh, and fleeing 
into Midian. 

Mary. That was cowardly. Mama, was it 
not ? God would have protected him there. 

Mama. Remember, my dear, that Moses had 
as yet no open commission from God to take 
the part of his countrymen ; and killing another, 
under any circumstances, was, by the laws of 
of Egypt,' certain death. Many of God's ser- 
vants have thus withdrawn in times of peculiar 
peril. Do you remember any ? 

Mary. Elijah did, you know, into the desert, 
from the &ce of Jezebel — and it could not be 
wrong, for God sent ravens to feed him. And 
our Lord himself, at times, " walked no more 
openly, for fear of the Jews." 

Mama. For the same reason as Moses, viz. 
that the time for braving tHe utmost malice ofr 
his enemies was not yet come. What occurred in 
Midian to prove that want of courage had little 
share in Moses' character? 

Mary. He helped the daughters of Reuel 



I 



MORNING FIRST. 13 

against the shepherds that would not let them 
water their flocks. That was goodnatured as 
well as bold — ^but I wonder, Mama, that Moses 
married one of these Midianite women ; I don't 
think it was right in him. 

Mama. Probably not ; and it has sometimes 
struck me as the possible reason that, while the 
&mily of Aaron was consecrated to the highest 
honours of the priesthood, that of Moses was left 
totally undistinguished in Israel. Perhaps Moses 
too had misgivings, when he called his son bom 
in that heathen land <<Gershom," or a "deso- 
late stranger;" as he must have felt himself to 
be, during his long sojourn of forty years, at a 
distance from his people, "an alien from the 
commonwealth of Israel, without hope" — but 
we shall soon see, not " without God in the 
world." 

It was at this period of deep despondence in 
the mind of Moses, and probably in that of his 
countrymen, who in him had lost their sole pro- 
tector, that the fulness of time being come, in 
the expiry of the four hundred years at the end 
of which God had promised Canaan to the pos- 
terity of Abraham, that gracious covenant " came 
up in rememberance before Him," and God 
" looked upon the children of Israel, and had 

respect unto them." 

c 



14 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

We may gather from the opening of this in- 
structive history, deep insight into the inscru- 
table ways of providence. What could be more 
unfavourable to the existence and elevation of 
Moses, than his exposure in a frail canoe to the 
mercy of the winds and waves ? What more 
apparently fatal to his exalted mission than his re- 
treat as a fugitive into Midian ? But did either de- 
feat the counsel of God ? No. And from the very 
delays in its accomplishment we may learn, with 
St. Peter, that the <' Lord is not slack concern- 
ing his promise, as men count slackness," but 
merely defers till the maturity of those ^^ times 
and seasons which he hath kept in his own 
power," the designs which all the " strength of 
his adversaries shall neither be able to gainsay 
nor resist." Let us apply this, Mary, whenever 
in our own experience the " wheels of His cha- 
riot" seem to our impatient finite conceptions 
" to tarry." As surely as at the precise period 
fixed by Omnipotence — the cry of the childrea 
of Israel came up to heaven, from the bondage 
of Egjrpt — so surely will the promise of deliver* 
ance to the tried and faithful Christian find it» 
accomplishment in that "day of the Lord,"" 
known neither to the angels in heaven nor tc^ 
the Son of man upon earth — ^but to the Father 
only I 



15 






I 



E- 

I 

m 

a 

i^ MORNING SECOND. 

re- 

h-\ Lesson.— Exodus, Chapters iii. and iv. 

lU 

nt Mama. I know not, my dear Mary, that the 
>tf whole compass of Scripture affords a passage of 
16 greater sublimity than that contained in our pre- 
n sent chapter, where Jehovah is introduced talking 
' *'fiice to ^e" with a trembling and well nigh 
overwhelmed mortal, and speaking of Himself in 
language as incomprehensible by unassisted man, 
as the subject of which it treats is unfathomable. 
But there is great and deep interest in this myste- 
rious colloquy — and if we come to it with the hu- 
mility becoming in such a Presence — we too may 
return from the "Mount of God," enlightened 
like Moses, in our understandings, and strength- 
ened in the path of duty. How was* the future 
lawgiver of Israel employed when thus highly 
fevoured ? 

Mary. Keeping the sheep of his father-in- 
law. 



16 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

Mama. Do you remember any one else thus 
^< taken from the sheep-fold*' to be the ruler of 
God's people ? 

Mary. Yes, David, Mama, who was really a 
little shepherd boy, while Moses was brought up 
to better things. 

Mama. My dear, were we to form our esti- 
mate of " better things," as you call them, over 
the humbler employments of life, from the gene- 
ral tenor of Scripture — ^the conclusion would cer- 
tainly be, that " not many wise, not many no- 
ble, not many rich in this world are called ;" (I 
do not here mean to be the objects of God's 
future salvation) but to be eminent instruments 
in His providence on earth. The time would 
fail us to enumerate the outcast Moses, the fiigi- 
tive Jacob, the prisoner Joseph — Elisha sum- 
moned from following the plough, and Saul from 
seeking asses, and David from keeping sheep, 
to be prophets and monarchs over God's people ; 
and more striking still, the tent-makers, and 
fishers, and publicans, taken from their daily la- 
bour, and ^e receipt of custom, to " confound 
the wisdom of the wise," and change the i^ce of 
the oivilized world. But we must not ascribe 
this, as some have rashly done, to any inherent 
advantages of ignorance over learning — but 
merely to the additional glory reflected on the 






MORNINO SECOND. 17 



re 
ei- 



w 



tnajesty of God by the apparent inadequacy of 
His instruments. We have a proof of this in 
Moses, who, though keeping sheep, in compliance 
yi: with primitive custom, had been prepared by 
^ God for the ojffice of lawgiver by a most care- 
M education. Who appeared to him on Mount 
Horeb? 
Mary. The "angel of the Lord," Mama. 
Mama. Do you know what the word " angel" 
means ? It signifies a messenger. Did God often 
send such on errands of mercy to man ? 

Mart. Yes. Angels came to Abraham, and 
to Lot, and to Zechariah the father of John, and 
Mary the mother of Christ, and many more. 
^. Mama. Very well ; and did these highly &- 
Voured persons fall down and worship them ? 

Mart. No, Mama, the angels would not have 
let them ; for when St. John wanted to do it 
once, the angel said, " See thou do it not, for I 
am thy fellow-servant." 

Mama. Then this could have been no mere 
** anger or minister, but one far higher ; for not 
only was worship permitted, but solemnly en- 
joined. It being impossible to ascribe the awfut 
name of "Jehovah" to any created being, and 
equally impossible to designate by that of "angel" 
or "messenger" the first person in the glorious 
Godhead — all expositors have agreed in con- 



18 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

eluding the *' angel" here spoken Of to be the 
Lord Jesus Christ, who is in Malachi expressly 
called the << messenger of the covenant,*' — a con- 
clusion corroborated by what is said of Moses^ 
<^ preferring the reproach of Christ*' — and by the 
assumption of the same lofty title " I am** by our 
glorified Redeemer in his appearance to John, 
Revelation i. 8. Under what visible similitude 
did the invisible Lord of heaven and earth now 
appear? 

Mary. A flame of fire in the midst of a bush» 
burning but not consumed. 

Mama. A gracious token that He, who to 
his enemies is a *< consuming fire,'* is but a ^< light 
to lighten his servants, and the glory of his peo- 
ple Israel." Was Moses allowed to approach 
the bush ? 

Mary. No, not too nigh ; and he was desired 
to put off his shoes. Why so. Mama ? 

Ma ma. As an eastern mark of deep reverence, 
observed in those countries to this day ; the feet 
being there uncovered (as with us the head) in 
every superior presence. But all human gran- 
deur shrinks into utter insignificance before the 
overwhelming majesty of that manifestation which 
caused Moses to veil his face on the ground. At 
a distance, he could readily and boldly answer, 
'* Here am I ;" but no sooner had his feet acta- 



AIORNINO SECOND. 19 

% touclied tlie *' hallowed ground** of Jehovali's 
awful presence, than, like Job, he felt his insig- 
nificance, and << abhorred himself in dust and 
ashei," The nearer we draw to God, Mary, the 
luunbler we are sure to grow. 

Mary. Mama 1 1 fear Moses was unbelieving 
as well as humble. He did not want to go at 
first on God's message. 

Mama. The infirmities of eminent persons, 
my dear, seem always especially noted in Scrip- 
£ tore for our instruction ; but it is a striking proof 
of Moses' humility that the one we are now read- 
ing was recorded by himself. An impostor, or 
even a proud man, would have told us a very 
different story. What token did God in His con- 
descension hold out to Moses, to confirm his wav- 
ering fiiith ? 

Mary. That the Israelites, after coming out 
of Egypt, should serve Him on that mountain. 

Mama. And was this a likely event, think 
you ? or did Horeb lie in the way from Egypt 
to Canaan? 
Mary. I don't know. 

Mama. Quite the reverse ; and nothing less 
miraculous than the passage of the Red Sea could 
have placed it in their devious path. Look at 
your map of Pkdestine when you have done read- 
ing, and you will sec what I mean. 



20 MORNINGS M'lTH MAMA. 

Mary. Mama, what could Moses mean by 
asking what name he should call the only true 
God by ? Did the Israelites worship any other? 

Mama. It has been feared they did, livinjf 
80 long in the midst of a people " wholly given 
to idolatry ;" and with as many names for their 
senseless deities as there were created things to 
deify and adore. It was to correct this shameful 
abuse, that the incommunicable name, expressive 
of eternal self-existence', was assumed by Grod in 
his message to his people : uniting and soft' 
ening it with endearing condescension, by the 
more special adjuncts of the *' God of Abraham, 
and Isaac, and Jacob." Remember, Mary, when* 
ever, throughout your Bible, "The Lord" occort 
in capital letters, it always signifies the awful and 
mysterious name "Jehovah." Think t)n the 
burning bush, and reverence it accordingly. 
What was the gracious promise thus solemnly 
announced and sanctioned ? 

Mary. That God would bring the Israelites 
into the land of the Canaanites — " a land flowing 
with milk and honey." 

Mama. Was this promise then first made ? 

Mary. Oh I no Mama, only repeated. It 
was first made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 

Mama. You see then with what propriety it 
was attested by God, as the God of those believ* 



MOBNING SECOND. 21 

ing patriarchs. But how wan this desirable ob- 
ject to be accomplished ? Was it to be done in 
the first instance by Almighty power? 

Mary. No. They were to ask leave of Pha- 
raoh to go three days' journey into the wilderness, 
to worship their God. But God knew Pharaoh 
would not let them go. It was only to try him. 

Mama. Yes ; and to justify by his obstinate 
refusals the ultimate vengeance of Jehovah, who, 
ve may gather, had in view, in his " wonders 
upon Egypt," besides the emancipation of Israel 
(which He could easily have accomplished other- 
wise,) the vindication of his own Majesty on a 
nation of idolaters, and their degrading deities. 
This we shall see when we come to the *< plagues;" 
every one of them aimed at some Egyptian super- 
stition. 

Mary. Mama I it seems hardly fair that the 
Israelites should << borrow" things from the Egyp- 
tians, when they never meant to come back and 
return them. God could hardly mean that. 

Mama. No, my dear; the mistake arises 
from mistranGJation. The word cannot signify 
to borrow, as commentators say the same is used 
in that verse of the Psalms, " Ask of me, and I 
will give thee the heathen for an inheritance," 
where "fiorroic?" would make the passage blas- 
phemous nonsense. It should be rendered *^ ex- 



22 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

act, or demand,** and denotes, (what afterwards : 
happened), that the Israelites should be bribed hj. - 
presents of all or more than they askedy to rid - 
the terrified Egyptians of their disastrous pre- 
sence. Those who had laboured so many een- 
turies*- 'unrecompensed save by injuries-*-fbr their 
taskmasters, might well be authorized to levy, in 
the shape of a contribution, some part of their 
withheld wages. 

The next chapter begins with the continued 
incredulity of Moses, and God's continued long* 
suffering under it. Mary, would a human su* 
perior have testified one-tenth of the forbearance 
of the " King of kings, and Lord of lords ?" And 
does the object of such Divine patience, always, 
like meek Moses, endeavour to imitate it towards 
his fellow-worms ? No I Fresh from the footstool 
of his indulgent Lord, he takes his erring bro- 
ther *^ by the throat, saying, pay me that thou 
owest." Of all persuasives to forgiveness among 
men, surely the daily sum of outrage on the pa* 
tience of God, is the most unanswerable I By 
what miracle did he vouchsafe to encourage the 
doubting Moses ? 

Mary. By turning his rod into a serpent. 
I suppose Mama, he would be able to do this 
again, else it could not convince the Israelites. 

Mama. Yes. We shall find it repeated ere 



MORNING 8BC0NB. 23 

long, in presence of friends and foes. Two other 
expedients were allowed him to remove their 
incredulity — so well did the God of this stiff- 
necked nation estimate their insensibility even 
to miracleSi. What further objection did Moses 
make to engaging in his mission ? 

Mary. '^ O Lord, I am not eloquent, but 
slow of speech, and of a slow tongue." 

Mama. And does this consist with what we 
know of him, and with what St. Stephen says — 
that he was <' mighty in word ?" 

Mary. No, Mama ; but it does with God's 
promise that ^* he would be with his mouth, and 
teach him what to say." 

Mama. Very well, indeed. Well might He 
who '< maketh the dumb, or the deaf, or the see- 
ing, or the blind," give eloquence to whom he 
will I But not even this assurance of assistance 
from on high could conquer the sinful backward- 
ness of Moses ; and no wonder that it at length 
** wearied" the forbearance of God I Strange 
inconsistency I that mortals, ever ambitious of 
employment under earthly monarchs, should 
often *^ with one consent begin to make excuse," 
when summoned to the service of heaven I For 
this last lingering, however, of human contumacy, 
sovereign goodness devises a remedy, and Aaron 
is to be made spokesman for his reluctant bro- 



24 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

ther. This final instance of condescension, with 
the assurance of direct inspiration implied in his 
being to his brother *< instead of God," — ^that is, 
the interpreter or organ of the Divine will — even 
Moses could not resist ; and he went and took 
leave of his &ther-in-law, under pretence of a 
mere visit to his suffering brethren. 

Mary. Why did he not tell the truth ? 

Mama. It was necessary to conceal the pe- 
rilous office in which he had embarked, lest 
Jethro — anxious for the safety of his daughter — 
should detain her and her children, whom Moses 
had determined should accompany him. How 
primitive is the spectacle of this lawgiver of Is- 
rael, this ambassador of the Most High Grod, 
quitting his flock in the desert, with his wife and 
children seated on an ass I Does it remind you 
of any other group of still more eminent per- 
sonages ? 

Mary. Yes, very much of the picture in your 
Bible, of the flight into Egypt of our blessed 
Lord, and his mother, and Joseph. The one 
might almost stand for the other. 

Mama. And thus was given a double accom* 
plishment to the prophecy quoted in the latter 
instance, " Out of Egypt have I called my son.** 
Who is so styled by God in the end of our chap* 
ter? 



MORNING 8EGONIK 25 

Mary. *^ Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my 
80D, even my first-bom ; and I say unto thee, 
let my son go, that he may serve me, else I "will 
slay thy son, even thy first-bom/' 

Mama. And did God redeem this awful 
threat? 

Mary. That he did, Mama ! Upon all the 
first-bom of Egypt. 

Mama. And think you he will not requite 
on the sinful nations of the earth, the injuries of 
a Son, greater and dearer far? The temporal 
judgments of God are often but types of his fu- 
ture vengeance. But what temporal judgment 
overtook Moses on his journey ? 

Mary. Mama, it says " God met with him 
in the inn, and sought to kill him." Were there 
inns in the desert ? 

Mama. No, my dear, — the word thus famili- 
arly translated designates only some customary 
resting-place for travellers, — perhaps a cave, or 
grove of palm-trees. The visitation spoken of is 
supposed to have been some sudden disease, 
threatening the life of Moses. For what purpose 
was it sent ? 

Mary. I don't know. 

Mama. What rite was incumbent on all true 
Israelites since the days of Abraham ? 

D 



\ 



26 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

Mary. Circumoisioo, Mama. I suppose 
Moses had neglected to oircumoise his son. 

Mama. Yes ; probably at the suggestion of 
his alien mother, who to avert her husband's dan* 
ger, was now glad herself to perform what she 
must have been made to understand was essesp 
tial to his recovery. We see here, how near an 
unhallowed alliance was to producing &tal conse" 
quences, and that though not before censured, it 
could scarcely have been pleasing to God. What 
joyful event made up to Moses for the late mani* 
fostation of Divine displeasure ? 

Mary. A meeting with his brother Aaioa 
How glad they must have been to see each other 
once more I 

Mama. Yes, and how this meeting seems to 
have confirmed their mutual faith. They do 
longer hesitate, but Aaron, (who in addition to 
his eloquence, was, we are told, a man of wei^ 
among his nation, and married to the sister of the 
prince of Judah) calls together the people and 
informs them of the gracious intentions of their 
God. 

Mary. And only think I Mama I the *^ peo- 
ple believed" for once, " and bowed down their 
heads and worshipped." 

Mama. Strong indeed must have been the 
manifestation of Divine power which conquered 



•MOBNIN6 SECOND. 27 

lity SO rooted as theirs I And vigorous at 
dcular time, the ^th which enabled them 
brward to, and the brothers to embark in, 
ndous a design, as the emancipation of a 
»f slaves and bondsmen from the thraldom 
nost civilized and powerftil nation then 
— at the fiat of an << unknown God," and 
ministry of a proscribed outiaw I The 
lich had elapsed since Moses left Egypt, 
rived him of every stay at the court of 
I, which could have counterbalanced these 
itages. The King whose daughter had 
him from the waters, was long since dead: 
ncess herself no doubt gathered to her 
regretting the vain cares bestowed on 
I had so ill requited them. All. this had 
irmitted, nay, ordained, to make it more 
apparent that it was << of the Lord," and 
d only, if his people should be at length 
, out *< with a mighty hand, and an out- 
d arm." 

jB pause with devout awe, my dear child, 
hreshold of this supernatural history; and 
gladly unfolded to his people the " good 
of approaching deliverance, let us com* 
,te with pious gratitude that freedom from 
ban Egyptian bondage, purchased for us 
greater than Moses," even our Lord Jesus 



28 



MORNING THIRD. 



Lesson. — Exodus, Chapters v. and vi. 



Mama. We have in these chapters, my dear 
Mary, a striking proof of the natural obduracy 
and impenitence of the human heart ; as well as 
of the remorseless tyranny which a long course 
of unchecked power can give rise to — in the re« 
fusal of Pharaoh to comply with so modest a 
request as a three days' leave of absence to his 
bondmen for the purposes of solemn worship, 
and his insensibility to the awful judgments by 
which the petition was enforced. By whom was 
it presented to the £g3rptian King ? 

Mart. By Moses and Aaron. You know 
God had sent them on purpose to Pharaoh. 

Mama. Yes, and in addition to this secret 
commission, which would perhaps have &iled in 
procuring them audience of a heathen prince, 
Moses might plead his education in the palace, 
and Aaron was undoubtedly a chief man or elder ; 



MOBNINO THIRD. 29 

and as such, a nataral representative of his people. 
In whose name did they urge Uieir request ? 

Mary. ** Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, 
let my people go." Mama I how wickedly Pha- 
raoh answered ; " Who is the Lord, that I should 
obey his voice ? I know not the Lord, neither 
will I let Israel go." 

Mama. You are shocked, and most naturally, 
my child, with these profime expressions, even in 
the moudi of a heathen prince. Are they never 
Iieard, think you, in our Christian country, or 
echoed within the sinful depths of an unrenewed 
Iteart? 

Mart. Surely, Mama, no one in our times 
can jMretend not to know Grod. 

Mama. No, Mary ; but saving knowledge is, 
alas I very different from a simple <U!quieseence 
m His existence. " Who is the Lord ?" is not 
the language of the ^< fool" alone, who hath " said 
in hu heart there is no God ;" but of the greater 
ibol> who, knowing ^ that He is," can reconcile 
that knowledge with neglect of his command- 
ments, indifference to his promises, and defiance 
of hii threatenings. ** Who is the Lord, that I 
shouid obey his voice ?" was the question of Pha- 
raoh. It is that of every one among us by whom 
thM YtAte^ daily hmtdj is n&t obeyed. Let us lay 
this to heart wh^n we feel inclined to wonder at 



30 MORNINGS WITH 31 A MA. 

the revolting presumption of one, on whose ean 
it fell strangely, and for the first time. Can you 
fancy any reason why Moses in reply calls Jeho- 
vah the « God of the Hebrews ?" 

Mary. No, Mama. 

Mama. It was not the first time that His 
power over Egypt for good or evil, had thus been 
manifested. First, in His judgments on them 
during the sojourn in their land of Abraham and 
Isaac ; €md still more recently, in the wonderful 
deliverance from famine by means of Joseph, ex* 
pressly acknowledged by the Pharaoh of that day 
to be the work of the one true God. But by the 
" new king'' it seems that Joseph, and a greater 
than Joseph, were alike forgotten. By what ar- 
gument did Moses and. Aaron enforce their peti- 
tion? 

Mary. " Lest God should Ml on them with 
pestilence and sword." 

Mama. Hereby indirectly reminding Pha- 
raoh of His power to punish ; though in the first 
instance neither miracle nor menace was made 
use of. 

Mary. Mama, Pharaoh never even took no« 
tice of their request, but abused them for hinder* 
ng the people. This was a great afiront to God. 

Mama. Not greater, my dear, than the tacit 
forgetfulness of Him, and his requirements, in 



HOBNING THIRD. 31 

dch thousands less excusable spend their lives. 
it did God overlook it in Pharaoh ? 
Mart. Oh I no. 

Mama. Neither will he in the case of the far 
IS pardonable <^ despisers" of our day. How 
» the rage of the proud king's heart against 
)d and his people manifested ? 
Mart. Oh I the poor creatures were made 
work ten times harder, and find straw for their 
m bricks. Mama! what became of all the 
icks which so many thousand people made 
ery day? 

Mama. On what part of the stupendous 
ildings, whose ruins cover the land of Egypt 
^is day, the Israelites were employed, we 
ve no means of deciding. But it has pleased 
ovidence to' keep entire, for countless ages, 
odigious erections of unburnt brick, called 
nramids, the use of which has never been 
certained, and which, as the work evidently of 
•innumerable population, and monuments ap- 
rently of mere ostentation, may serve (if not 
8 identical buildings here mentioned) at least 
make us acquainted with their exact materials 
id gigantic character. You have seen a draw- 
^ of them, I think. 

Mart. Yes, Mama, in one of Papa's great 
K>kB of travels. He showed me the inside too^ 

6 



32 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

ttfid it was nothing but a little dark room that 
nobody could live in, after all this great troubla> 
What could it be for? 

Mama. The most natural conjecture^ my 
dear, iss that they were sepulchral chambers ; as 
the Egyptians were most scrupulous about My 
thing that could contribute to the preservatioB 
of their dead. Did you not see a mummy once 
at the Museum ? 

Mary. Oh, yes ! a frightful, black, smoky- 
looking thing. 

Mama. Yet precisely such as the relics of 
the proud Kings of Egypt, who employed a whole 
nation to raise mountains of brick over thdf 
remains. But to what end? Their name and 
memory have alike perished, and the only use of 
the Pyramids is to recall to the Christian traVet" 
ler the bondage of Israel and power of Jehovah I 
But to whom did the officers of the poor oj^res- 
sed Israelites carry their complaints ? 

Mary. First to Pharaoh, and then to MosSi 
and Aaron. And they reflected upon God, Ma* 
ma, as if He had done them harm instead of good. 
That was very bad of them I 

Mama. I fear Moses was a sharer, and a moire 
criminal one, in their unbelief, for he too spake 
" as one of the foolish ones," and << imadvisedly 
ti^ith his lips," before God. How prone is the 



MORNING THIRD. 33 

th of even His chosen messengers, to fidl on 
I first fiery trial which assails them ! How was 
3 Lord pleased to confirm his promise to Mo- 
»? 

Mary. He was to make Pharaoh let his 
ople go, with a strong hand. 
Mama. And that he did ! But it is to a 
ange in the wording of His covenant with His 
osen people, that I wished to direct your atten- 
•n. Hitherto He had been known to them only 
the Grod of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; hence- 
th, under His newly revealed title of Jehovah, 
e was, in the execution of His promises to 
e people, to make manifest His glory to the 
lole world. What was to be the first pledge 
this renewed covenant ? 
Mart. Giving them the land of Canaan, 
by is it called the land of their pilgrimage ? 
Mama. Because they had been << strangers 
d pilgrims" there at God's conmiand, four hun- 
»d yettTs before it was made their own. So 
le was it their's in the days of Abraham, Isaac> 
d Jacob, that tents were the only dwellings 
ese mighty patriarchs lived in, as if to acknow- 
Ige the precarious nature of their present 
lure. But do you remember two strong marks 
their faith that it was ultimately to be their 

5t? 



34i UOBNIMOB Wri'H MAUA. 

MARt. No, Muna. 

Mama. Did not Abnham buy for a 1 
Bum, a btiryiiig>plftce there, for Sanh ami al 
&mily P And do you not remember Joseph 
hie death-bed, desiring his bones to be cai 
thither P Oh, Maiy I would Uiat every one < 
kx^ed ibtward witii as steady and belierinj 
eye to the *' rest tJiat remainetii for the peop 
God," as Afamham ttma hb tent, and Jo 
from his palace, contemplated the ^ical re 
Israel in the earthly Canaan t But we are 
by an Apostle thu even t^ bare left as an 
ample of looking beyond it to a " better coui 
ewn an heavenly." Let us beware " lest b; 
«vit heart of unbelief, we seem to fall short 
that ultimate " rest" of which Canaan was b 
type. Did the children of Israel open their b 
and ears to these reviving promises 7 

Mary. No, Mama, " for anguish of v 
and cniel bondage." 

Mama. Strangel that worldly sorrow she 
U it somelimei does, shut the heart i^aiust 1 
VMly joy t thus defeating the blessed and gi 
oiu end of Him *' who afflicteth not willin 
lior grieveth the children of men." But 
your 'eye, Mary, over the genealogy which oci 
at tliis part of your chapter — do you remark 
thing in it P 



IfOBNINO THIBD. 35 

Maby. Yes, Mama ; what you told me yes* 
teiday. It tells all about Aarop and his iamilyy 
but iiot a word of Moses or his ; and you said 
it wag on account of his strange wife. 

Mama. Nay, Mary, I only conjectured. The 
omissioa may have arisen merely from his being 
the younger son. It affords, at all events, con- 
clusive evidence of the humility as well aa vera- 
city of Moses. 

Mary. Mama, what does Moses mean by 
saying he was of << uncircumcised lips ?" 

Mama. What was circumcision a sign of, 
Mary ? Remember, it answered to our baptism. 
Maby. Dedication to God, I suppose. 
Mama. Well ; ** uncircumcised,*' throughout 
the Bible, just means unprepared for his service. 
Jeremiah complains that the people's ears were 
" uncircumcised," so that they could not " hear- 
ken." Stephen calls them <' uncircumcised both 
in ears and heart." A strong figure I and but 
too applicable to the unrenewed among us, whom 
the waters of baptism have failed to cleanse, or 
the vows then registered to bind in allegiance 
to their God. 

But there is another lesson we also may draw 
from the uncircumcision of lips and heart of 
Moses and his countrymen. They were back- 
ward to believe, and slow in accepting the pro- 



36 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

mised deliverance of their God. Dismayed by 
perils, disheartened by opposition, willing to sub- 
mit to the vilest and most degrading bondage 
rather than risk the slight measure of ease and 
safety which an enemy's country afforded, — ^pre- 
ferring (as they afterwards did in the wilderness) 
the " flesh-pots of Egypt," with all their accom- 
paniments of toil and servitude and degradation, 
to emancipation and the free service of Jehovah. 
Is it not so with us, Mary, when, with criminal 
supineness, or yet more criminal obstinacy, we 
shrink from the difliculties of a conflict with the 
world, in which the same Almighty arm is pledg- 
ed to support us, and the issue of which is the 
far more " glorious liberty of the sons of God ?" 



37 



MORNING FOURTH. 

Lesson.— Exodus, Chapers viL and viii. 

Mama. We had already gathered, my dear 
Mary, from former chapters, that pride and pre- 
sumption were the predominant features in the 
character of Pharaoh. This day's reading has 
exhibited their influence as capable of hardening 
him against the most sensible evidences of the 
superior power and majesty of the unknown 
God, with whom he vainly sought to strive. 
There is something frightful, and at the same 
time deeply instructive, in the congeniality of 
this besetting sin of pride to the nature of man, 
and the tenacity with which he clings to it at the 
expense of his happiness, his safety, nay, his im- 
mortal soul. Pride lost the angels Heaven, and 
our first parents paradise. It cost Pharaoh the 
devastation of his kingdom, and life of his first- 
bom. Nebuchadnezzar sacrificed to its gratifica- 
tion his throne and reason ; and many, many a 
proud nominal Christian, by refusing, Vvke Y\v\- 

E 



38 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

raoh, to <Met go" something which God hath 
commanded him to relinquish, forfeits peace 
upon earth, and unmortality beyond it. By what 
encouraging expressions does Grod, in the begin- 
ning of our chapter, revive the drooping spirit 
of Moses ? 

Mary. " See, I have made thee a God to 
Pharaoh, and Aaron shall be thy prophet.*' How 
could Moses be a God, Mama ? There is none 
but one. 

Mama. True: it is only a strong figure of 
speech to express the extent of delegated power 
with which this eminent servant of the Most 
High was to be intrusted. 

Mary. Mama, if God was to harden Pha- 
raoh's heart on purpose, how could he help being 
wicked ? I thought God hardened nobody. 

Mama. I am glad you have put this question, 
my dear ; it shews you think of what you read, 
and enables me to explain a phrase which hat 
puzzled older heads than your's. No person is 
ever otherwise '< hardened" by the most mercifiil 
and forbearing of Beings, than by mere cessati(m 
of divine interposition when become manifestly 
incorrigible, — a state of reluctant abandonment 
to obstinate depravity, expressed in Scripture 
by being " given up to a reprobate mind.** The 
best commentators tell us we have no authority 



MORNINO FOURTH. 39 

from the original for ascribing to (rod any har- 
dening of Pharaoh's naturally stubborn disposi- 
tion, till we come to the 9th chapter and 12th 
verse, when he had so decidedly and unpardona- 
bly resisted innumerable warnings, as to be judi- 
cially abandoned (with a propriety none but the 
most idle caviller could question) to the conse- 
quenees of his impenitence and his impiety. This 
Grod ibreasLW would be the case, and prepared 
Moses for it accordingly ; and thus only are we 
to understand his ^* heart being hardened*' by 
Him, who ** willeth not the death of" the most 
determined rebel, '* but rather that he may turn 
from his wickedness and live." We may gather 
from the passage that another important end, 
hesades the triumphant rescue of Israel, was in 
the view of Jehovah in the impending judgments. 
What does He say at verse 5th ? 

Mary. ^* And the Egyptians shall know that 
I am the Lord, when I stretch forth mine hand 
upon Egypt" 

Mama. Yes, my dear Mary ; and such are 
not his designs upon idolatrous Egypt alone. 
His ** hand" is never " stretched out" on any 
people or individual among us, but that we may 
know, and fear, and acknowledge Him. Oh! 
that when we see in national visitations or private 



40 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

calamities evident tokens of his outstretched arm, 
we would say and feel — << The Lord reigneth." 
.. But to return to Moses— What age was he, 
when finally deputed on his perilous mission ? 
. Mary. Fourscore, and Aaron was three years 
older. What old men I 

. Mama. You must remember, my dear, that 
human life, though greatly diminished since the 
antediluvian, or even patriarchal ages, was still 
prolonged to a duration unknown among us. 
Moses was an hundred and twenty years old, 
when he died ; at eighty he was therefore pro- 
bably not more infirm than persons of fifty or. 
sixty in our days. What was the first miracle 
he was empowered to perform ? 
. Mary. Oh I the old one at the burning bush — 
turning his rod into a serpent. But, Mama, how 
came it that the Egyptian magicians could do 
the same ? Did God let them ? 

Mama. Doubtless he must, if indeed the 
miracle was ever really wrought by them. But 
this is much and justly questioned by the best 
commentators, because the word translated << en- 
chantments," seems more properly to imply slight 
of hand, or legerdemain, for which the Egyptians 
were famous, and especially for taming serpents ; 
some of which, previously prepared, it was by . 



MOBNINO FOUBTH. 



41 



B difficult for such expert conjurors to 
e in the place of their rods. But if 
d really to imitate Moses, it could only 
raw them on by temporary success to 
)ling exposure of subsequent inferiori* 
5h indeed was already intimated by Mo« 
swallowing their's. This having failed 
ice Pharaoh — ^what was selected for the 
* the next miracle ? 

'. Tlie ^ river," Mama. The Nile, you 
I said it must be. 

L. Yes, the sole river of £g3^t; a coun« 
ih, denied by Providence the natural re- 
t of rain, owed its whole fertility, or power 
cing food for man, to a periodical rise 
[ile, and the abundant irrigation thus 
to its thirsty soiL Why did we say the 
iughter was visiting it when she found 



. For idolatrous worship of it ; and so, 
i, was Pharaoh now. 
• Yes, and therefore no fitter scene or 
30uld be devised for manifesting to this 
nee the superiority of the God whom 
ispised by asking, " Who is the Lord ?" 
this impious question answered by Je- 



<< In this shait thou know that I am 



42 MORNINGS WITH MAItfA. 

the Lord ; I will smite the waters that are in thy 
river, and they shall be turned to blood. And 
the fish that is in the river shall die, and the 
river shall stink, and the Egyptians shall loathe 
to drink of the waters of the river." How dis- 
gusting, Mama I 

Mama. Yes, Mary, even to you and I, how 
much more so to the nice and delicate Egyptians, 
who abhorred the very idea of blood, and re- 
volted so from putrefaction as to embalm the 
bodies even of birds and animals ; who looked 
then, and by the testimony of modem travellers 
still do, on the hallowed waters of the Nile with 
superstitious veneration, and held its fishes to be 
deities, or at least symbols, too sacred for food I 
What must have been their feelings when they 
saw their tutelary river thus defiled, their do- 
mestic reservoirs polluted, and themselves almost 
poisoned by their corrupted gods I Nothing more 
distinctly marks the *< finger of God" in these 
judgments than their correspondence with the 
sins, and startling opposition to the rites of this 
most idolatrous of nations. It seems as if the 
magicians were again enabled, by some optical 
delusion or divine permission, to imitate this 
miracle also. If the latter, it was a singular in- 
stance of what our Lord calls a " house divided 
against itself," if the power of evil spirits was 



HORNING FOUBTH. 43 

thus overruled to join in afflicting the despisers 
of Jehovah. How long did the plague of blood 

last? 

Mart. Seven days, Mama. A long time I 
should think. 

Mama. Long, indeed, Mary, in a hot country 
like Egypt, and sufficient, almost without a fresh 
mirade, to bring on the disease and pestilence 
whicb followed. What was the next judgment 
threatened on this devoted people ? 

Mary. The plague of frogs. Mama. 

Mama. Before proceeding to consider it, let 
us notice a circumstance manifestly inconsistent 
with the painfril idea of a desire on God's part to 
*' harden " Pharaoh ; while it is quite in character 
with all we know of him who is ever saying, "Turn 
ye, turn ye, why will ye die ?" I mean the pre- 
vious intimation graciously given of almost every 
impending plague, to afford the king of Egypt 
an opportunity to repent and escape it. I do not 
think this is sufficiently attended to by those who 
rashly charge that God who " tempteth no man," 
with the guilt of Pharaoh's sin. 

Mary. I think. Mama, the plague of frogs 
was almost as bad as the other. The idea of 
having one's house full of such creatures, makes 
one's flesh creep I 

Mama. Yes, and again the evil was made to 



44 MORNINGS wrm mama. 

arise from the sacred river, and to bring upon 
the Egyptians their special alxHnination of ani- 
mal putridity. But was it at all likely for frogii 
even if thus abundant, to come oat of their na- 
tural element, and spread themselves in citifii 
and houses ? 

Mart. Oh ! no. Grod must have changed 
their very nature before they could do so. I 
wonder this did not con\'ince Pharaoh I 

Mama. It did, Mary, while the iqfectioD 
lasted ; you must have overiooked his momentary 
penitence. He promised, if the frogs were re- 
moved, to let the people go, and Moses, in the 
true forbearing spirit of the God whom he serredy 
complied with his abject entreaties ; after pre- 
cisely naming a time, that chance might be seen 
to have no share in the wished-for relief Did 
Pharaoh, on his part, adhere to the agreement? 

Mary. Oh I no; ^^ when he saw that there 
was respite he hardened his heart." 

Mama. Yes, that heart which God had done 
so much to soften, but had foreseen would be 
wrought on in vain I This time warning seems 
to have been withheld as superfluous ; the plagoe 
of lice, subtle, noiseless, yet irresistible, came UA^ 
announced. 

Mary. And this time, Mama, the magicians 
** could do nothing," but told Pharaoh it was the 
^' Jduucr oi' God." . 



MOBMING FOUBTH. 45 

Mama. This corroborates our opinion, that 
their former attempts were mere deceptions. 
Serpents and blood and frogs were all tangible 
things, and might be brought to aid in deceiving 
the spectators. But over the <' dust of the earth/' 
or the air in which it floated, the sorcerers of 
Egypt could have no power ; while its proud and 
effeminate priesthood groaned under an infliction 
more loathsome to them than even to us. Did 
Pharaoh listen to the warnings of his own baffled 
magicians ? 

Maby. No, no ; it was just the same as ever. 
So the Lord sent <* swarms of flies'' next to punish 
his obstinacy. Mama I it occurs to me this might 
have something to do with the '< King of flies," 
the fidse god you told me many nations worship- 
ped under the name of Baalzebub. 

Mama. Very well remembered indeed, my 
dear. But the Egyptian superstition was more 
abject and degrading still ; for they worshipped 
the insects themselves I and it is expressly said, 
the whole idolatry connected with them origi- 
nated in Egypt, probably from its vicinity to 
Ethiopia and Nubia ; the countries travellers tell 
us, most naturally exposed to the scourge here 
inflicted upon Egypt. Was it general over the 
whole land ? 



46 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

Mary. No, the land of Goshen, where the 
Israelites lived, was free. 

Mama. A most wonderful distinction I when 
we consider that it lay between two parts of Eg3rpt 
both afflicted by the flies ; and still more when we 
are told by Bruce and other travellers that the ex- 
emption of that favoured pastoral region continues 
to this day, affording a resource to the tortured 
cattle of neighbouring districts. What effect had 
this judgment on Pharaoh ? 

Mary. He came down a little, and said the 
Israelites might worship their God where they 
were. 

Mama. And what did Moses object to this ? 

Mary. That they could not " sacrifice the 
abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes." 

Mama. Meaning thereby, sheep, goats, and, 
above all, oxen, all of which, the latter espedaUy, 
were in some way or other, held sacred by the 
Egyptians. But here let us stop, Mary, to notice 
a wonderful circumstance, not often considered 
by casual readers. How miraculously had the 
idea of animal sacrifice, as acceptable to Jeho- 
vah, been kept up for four hundred years among 
a nation, who evidently had for most of that time 
been forced by tyranny to relinquish it I Many 
people are apt to look upon sacrifices as first in- 



MORNING FOURTH. 4? 

troduced as a regular part of worship by Moses, 
forgetting that they are coeval with man's fall, 
the express institution of God, and indissolubly 
connected, in the whole Old Testament history, 
with the future economy of redemption. Of this 
we have a strong proof in the indelible memory 
of them impressed upon the enslaved Israelites, 
and their determined resolution to resume them 
at the first moment of emancipation. Where did 
Moses now propose doing so ? 

Mart. " Three days' journey in the wilder- 
ness ;" not to give offence to the Egyptians. I 
suppose it was an excuse to get away altogether. 

Mama* So Pharaoh seems to have regarded 
it; for the moment the flies were dispersed at 
his entreaty, he '^ revised to let the people go.*' 

The length of this day's reading, my dear, 
leaves room for little application, indeed we have 
made it as we went along. Humility, a deep 
sense of the depravity of man and majesty of 
God, is the chief lesson of this eventful history. 
Let us beware lest we also harden our hearts 
against the judgments yet abroad in the world ; 
and remember that the end of all chastisement is 
to rescue us, like Israel of old, from idolatry, and 
bondage, and death. 



48 



MORNING FIFTH. 
Lesson. — Exodus, Chapters iz. and x. 

Mama. Methinks, my dear Mary, there is 
something doubly appropriate in the signal judg- 
ment with which our chapter commences ; first, 
to the prevailing superstition of Egypt, and next, 
to the insolent reftisal of its king to permit ani- 
mal sacrifices in honour of Jehovah, even of the 
cattle which belonged individually to the Isi^- 
ites. As if it were to mark this, as well as to aim 
a death-blow at that idolatrous worship, of the 
ox tribe especially, (of which Israel in the desert, 
in the matter of the golden calf, retained but too 
faithfiil a memory,) it is on the caUle of Egypt 
that the outstretched arm of the Lord is now 
made to fall ; while, as in a former instance, the 
fiocks and herds of the Israelites, their chief pre- 
sent possession, and fiiture provision for the ser- 
vice of their God in the wilderness, are miracu- 
lously exempted from the prevailing epidemic 

Mary. How good it was of God to give Hia- 
raoh once more a day to think better of it 1 I 
thought He had given up warning him ! 



MORNING FIFTH. 49 

Mama. And so would any outraged human 
superior long ago, Mary I but the " compassions 
of the Lord are infinite," ^tending, as he would 
have those of his creatures to do, unto << seventy 
times seven." Did this forbearance prove more 
efficacious than usual ? 

Mary. No ; less so, I think ; for Pharaoh never 
evfeh pretended to relent, though he sent into 
Goshen to see if the cattle were really alive. 

Mama. How were he and his people now 
punished in the tenderest point? 

Mart. Moses threw up handfuls of the dust 
of the furnace, and it brought " boils" upon every 
body, magicians and all 

Mama. Surely, Mary, one would have thought 
this personal infliction infallible. Do you re- 
member a case where it was pronounced so by 
one, who (in a very opposite sense from our gra- 
cious Lord) << knew what was in man," and whose 
object in inflicting it was not to bring honour, 
but blasphemy on the name of God ? 

Mart. I can't think what you mean. Mama. 

Mama. Oh I it is only a casual coincidence 
suggested to me by the similarity of the disease 
of Pharaoh and his subjects, to the <* sore boil's" 
with which Satan was permitted, for a very dif- 
ferent purpose, to put the climax to the afflictions 
of Job. In both cases this ultimate att&.^W q\i 



50 MORNINOS WITH MAMA. 

that tenderest possession of man, his body, proved 
ineffectuaL Job <' in all this, sinned not with 
his lips/' while Pharaoh, continuing insensible, 
was now at length judicially confirmed in his 
incorrigible impenitence. 

Mary. Had this plague any thing to do with 
the idolatry of Egypt ? 

Mama. The scattering of the ashes has been 
supposed to refer to a similar practice at the dose 
of the human sacrifices, which (in spite of their 
sickly sensibility on the subject of animal life) 
they offered in honour of their God Typhon ; 
while the learned have also discovered appropri- 
ateness in the air, one of the Egyptian deities, 
being made, as well as water, an instrument in 
their punishment. Who are mentioned here as 
included in its distressing effects ? 

Mart. The magicians. Mama, <^ they coqM 
not stand before Moses, because of the boiL*' 

Mama. Did you observe, as you went aloDg» 
any aggravation of Pharaoh's guilt, which proba- 
bly moved God at length to give him up ^< to his 
heart's lust, and the fruit of his own ways ?" 

Mary, I don't know, unless it was his hav' 
ing twice promised to ^< let the people go," and 
drawn back. 

Mama. Just so; not content with defying, 
'< Satan had put it into his heart to lie unto the 



XOBNINa FIFTH. 51 

Lord." Do you recollect to whom these words 
were addressed in the New Testament, and the 
dreadful judgments which followed ? 

Mart. Yes, you mean Ananias and Si^phira, 
who were both struck dead for their lie. 

Mama. Very well ; and in the following verses 
of our chapter the Lord tells Pharaoh (according 
to the best explanations we have of rather an 
obscurely rendered passage) that though He 
could at once have smitten him with pestilence, 
and cut him off from the earth for his audacious 
breach of &ith with the Most High ; yet for this 
cause had he ^^ made him stand" or preserved 
him, (not ^^ raised him up," as translated in our 
Bibles, whence some have drawn the false and 
impious conclusion, that he was created for the 
purpose of sinning) that the power of Jehovah 
might be magnified in the awfril catastrophe by 
which this monument of Divine vengeance should 
justly and finally perish. 

Mary. How very good it was of God to give 
dotice of the hail I I suppose it was not meant 
for wicked Pharaoh, but for those believing Egyp- 
tians who took warning by it. 

Mama. Doubtless ; yet nothing but experi- 
^ce of former judgments could have made even 
iuch believe it. Why so ? Why was it so pecu- 
iarly incredible ? 



52 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

Mary. Because there never was any natural 
rain in Egypt, you told me« Is that the reason 
you meant? 

Mama. Exactly ; I wished to see if you re- 
membered it. Nothing but the miraculous power 
of God could have produced a phenomenon to- 
tally unknown in that country, and still more so 
as combined with hail, which its dry sultry at- 
mosphere utterly precluded. The mingling of 
<< fire" with these strange visitations must have 
added greatly to their destructive effect and awfiil 
character. Do you see any special propriety in 
this addition ? 

Mary. Water and air had been made to 
punish the Egyptians already, perhaps they wor- 
shipped fire also. 

Mama. They did, Mary, and I am glad you 
understood this desecration of another of their 
elemental deities. Did the Israelites suffer from 
this great storm ? 

Mary. Oh I no. " There was no hail in 
Goshen." 

Mama. My dear Mary, let this simple phrase 
remind us of a precious spiritual truth. The 
word " Goshen" is often applied to the " city of 
refuge," enjoyed in this world of storms by 
God's chosen and peculiar servants ; who, though 
not like the Israelites exempted from their share 




HOBNINe FIFTH. 



53 



loral calamities, experience nevertheless 
the shadow of the Most High/' a sense of 
nd tranquillity amid them, which neither 
ings" of the world's impotent malice, nor 
lail" of its undisguised fury, nor the 
mce" of its evil examples, nor the ** thick 
»" of its wilful ignorance, can penetrate or 
'proach. The Israelites in Groshen doubt- 
deep gratitude for the miraculous pro- 
vouchsafed them by their Grod. How 
nore should we bless His holy name if, 
K>wer greatly beyond our own strength, 
, (while sojourners in a world lying in 
ness), in fulfilment of our Saviour's gra- 
etition, *^ kept from the evil that is in it !" 
IT. Mama, the hail must have been very 
il, when it made Pharaoh own he and his 
were wicked I 

CA. And he more wicked than even con- 
pronounced him, so soon to retract a 
ion, the fruit, indeed, not of penitence, but 
of slavish terror I Have you any notion 
3 flax and barley are particularly mention* 
estroyed by the hail? 
IT. No, Mama. I should have thought 
eat of more consequence. 
f A. In the worship of the country the 



54 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

flax at least had a peculiar utility. It was cele- 
brated all over the world for its quality; and in the 
"fine linen" woven from it, the priests were ex- 
clusively clothed. To them the loss of a year's 
growth must have been peculiarly annoying. 
From barley it is supposed they made a ferment- 
ed liquor essential to their health and comfort at 
those seasons when the Nile was undrinkable. 
But the destruction of the later sorts of grain 
was only deferred, and left to another class of 
God's ministers of vengeance. By the locusts 
was Pharaoh's mock penitence signally avenged, 
and the devastation of the land completed. But 
before following them in their ravages, let us 
remark a further and merciful purpose announced 
by Jehovah to Moses, in the extension of Pha- 
raoh's life ; and the multiplication of judgments 
no longer designed for his amendment. See if 
you can find this purpose for me. 

Mary. <^ That thou mayest tell in the can 
of thy son and thy son's son, what things I have 
wrought in Egypt, that ye may know that I am 
the Lord." 

Mama. Very well. Do you know any Jew- 
ish writer besides Moses, by whom the gracious 
office of reminding his people of those mighty 
works has been faithfully discharged? WhoM 



MORNING FIFTH. 55 

eloquent description of the '< signs and wonders 
in Uie land of Ham," have you often (perhaps 
Tfithout due attention) repeated ? 

Mart. I think, Mama, David uses these 
words in a Psahn all about the children of Israel 
in Egypt. 

Mama. Yes, in a most faithftil as well as suc- 
cinct recapitulation of the history of his people 
contained in the 105th and 106th Psalms ; usher- 
ed in and summed up, in the truly pious spirit 
of its author, by earnest exhortations to praise 
and thanksgiving. Let us join with him, Mary, 
in exclaiming, when we read of similar displays 
of Almighty power, " Oh I that men would 
praise the Lord for his goodness, and His won- 
derful works to the children of men I " But what 
^ Israelites indeed " recalled in later times, still 
for the benefit of their countrymen and our own, 
the deliverance from Egypt, and transactions in 
the wilderness ? 

Mart. I don't remember. 

Mama. Stephen in the Acts, and St. Paul 
in the Hebrews, allude to them as things per- 
fectly well known, and impressed on the hearts 
and memories of their countrymen, even at that 
remote period. So completely had the "sons 
and sons' sons" of the generation who witnessed 
t]iem, participated in the knowledge thus gra- 



56 M0BNIN06 WITH MJIMA. 

ciously provided by Grod I But by the Jews we 
fear these signal favours were perverted into 
sources of carnal pride, and vain-glorious ex- 
ultation. They forgot the wholesome addition^ 
<< That ye may know that I am the Lord," and 
attributed to their merits a course of national 
mercies, which Moses, on the contrary, perpe- 
tually wonders their national degeneracy had 
failed in forfeiting. But we must return to the 
locusts. I think I have explained to you their 
destructive character. 

Mart. Yes, Mama, they are a sort of laige 
grasshoppers which appear in clouds, and eat 
up every green thing that comes in their way. 

Mama. Very well remembered, but to height- 
en your general idea of this destructive insect, 
I will quote you the words of a modem traveller, 
an actual eye-witness. " Those I saw in Bar- 
bary were much bigger than common grasshop- 
pers. In the heat of the day they formed them- 
selves into large bodies, and darkened the veiv 
sun. On being hatched, the new broods imme- 
diately collected together, forming compact bo- 
dies of several hundred yards square, and march- 
ing directly forward, climbed over trees, walls, and 
houses, eat up every plant in their way, and let 
nothing escape them. The inhabitants made 
trenches and filled them with water, and set on 



HORNING FIFTH. 5? 

fire large quantities of combustibles. But in 
vain. The trenches were quickly filled up, and 
the fires put out, by infinite swarms succeeding 
each other; the last gnawing ofi* the young 
branches and the very bark of such trees as had 
before escaped with the loss only of fruit and 
foliage." 

Mart. Dreadful indeed I no wonder Pharaoh 
sent for Moses and Aaron ^^ in haste," to rid him 
of such enemies. 

Mama. Yes, especially as from this scourge of 
other eastern countries, Egypt being protected 
by the barrier of the Red Sea, was usually 
exempt ; yet in one day, " even by to-morrow," 
did the Lord "hiss for the fly" out of the re- 
motest regions of Arabia; and locuste— such as 
never were known before or after — desolated the 
scanty remnant of vegetation this once fertile 
country yet boasted. These, as well as the frogs 
before mentioned, forsook their usual character, 
by infesting houses, thereby adding loathsome- 
ness to calamity. 

Mary. Mama, the servants of Pharaoh show- 
ed more sense than their master ; they ventured 
^to desire him to *^ let the people go." 

Mama. And by what miserable subterfuge 
did this in&tuated prince think to mock God, 
and to compromise literally (the children of 



^F"WB 



58 M0RNINO8 WITH MAMA. 

Israel being a chief source of his wealth) be- 
tween " God and Mammon ? " 

Mary. Only the men were to go and wor- 
ship, leaving the women and children behind, to 
make sure of their coming back again : and 
when Moses would not accept this insolent pro- 
posal, he drove him away in anger. No wonder 
God sent the locusts on him inmiediately I But, 
Mama, I think it was simple in Moses always 
to believe Pharaoh serious, and entreat God for 
him. 

Mama. My dear, God has constituted no 
man judge of another's sincerity, nor have his 
ministers a right to withhold from the worst, the 
benefit of their finite intercession. Besides, others 
were sufferers equally with the infidel king in 
all these calamities ; and the Lord, who ^< refrain- 
ed " from destroying Nineveh on account of the 
<^ six score thousand persons in it who could not 
discern their right hand from their left" — was 
doubtless ready " to be entreated" for the help- 
less and unoffending among the Egyptians. 
There was now little more in the shape of pro- 
perty to be destroyed, and the next plague— a 
meet prelude to the crowning judgment which 
succeeded — was of a nature to work on the feel- 
ings and consciences of such as retained on their 
minds any sense of God. ' Darkness, deep, pal- 



MORNING FIFTH. 59 

Me^ and supernatural, besides being a very 
roper humiliation to a people piquing them- 
ilves on their superior illumination, was a sig- 
ed retribution on their idolatrous worship of the 
in, and idle personification of a power of dark- 
ess, fixHn which their tutelary deity of light was 
nable to rescue them. 

Mart. It must have been dreadful to sit in 
arkness three whole days, not knowing what 
ms to come next I 

Mama. Terrible indeed I Were the Israel- 
fces left thus unenlightened ? 

Mary. No, no ; it says, << The children of 
srael had light in their dwellings." 

Mama. Never forget this, Mary, or the cause 
f this exhilarating difierence ; which, as a fore- 
aste of further mercies, must have been doubly 
eviving. If the Israelites had ^< light in their 
Iwellings," while the Egyptians sat paralysed 
rith horror under the influence of a '< darkness 
hat might be felt" — ^it was because the << candle 
if the Lord shined on their heads ;" because that 
(ymbol of the Divine presence, already become 
;o their enemies << a pillar of a cloud," displayed 
ts jojrfid beacon to animate them for their jour- 
ley. In the dwelling of every Christian, Mary, 
there is, or ought to be, the same heavenly light ; 
dispelling the mists of error, the clouda of i^wot- 



OO MORNINGS WITH UAMA. 

atice, the night of doubt and despondence- 
" shining," lilce the path of those whom it g 
and invigorates, " more and more unto the 
feet day I" 

Mart. Oh, Mama I Pharaoh oould 
tliink of making conditions with God, and 1 
ing the caide of the leraelitea from going 
them. How weak as well as wicked he 
have been ! 

Mama. Wickedness is but another nam 
foUy, in most instances, my dear; and the ] 
has more share than is generally imagined ii 
errors of the understanding. Covetonsness 
at the bottom of Pharaoh's whole resbtanc 
the departure of G ad's people — and the mor 
evitable his ultimate compliance became- 
more did his " evil heart of unbelief" strugg 
retain some hold over its unjust possess 
Better kings and better men than Pharaoh n 
have been loth to relinquish a natJon of profit 
slaves and tributaries ; and let us, while acki 
ledging his impious infatuation, ask ourselvi 
we feel it easy to " count all things but losi 
the command of even a gracious and liberal I 
ter, who has promised to repay every such si 
fice " an hundred fold ?" With this salutary 
humbling inquiry, let us pause, ere we follow 
reprobate King of Egypt to his " house of mo 



MOBNINO FIFTH. 61 

ig** and watery grave. If we have thus £ur ae- 
}mpanied the sacred historian without height- 
3ed feelings of reverence for God, and deepened 
iar of provoking his righteous judgments, it 
ere better for us that Moses had never written, 
-nay, that like Pharaoh — (to use our Lord's aw- 
d words) — ^we *^ had been cast into the depths 
f the sea." 



62 



MORNING SIXTH. 

Lesson. — Exodus, Chapters xL xii. andziiLto vet. 1 

Mama. We have, my dear Maiy, in th 
closely connected, .and indeed inseparable cb 
ters, the three-fold record of the final and mei 
rable judgment by which Jehovah summed 
his *^ wonders upon Egypt," and its wicked i 
narch — the singular expedient by which its 
tension to the children of Israel was to be mei 
fully averted — and the religious lite by wh 
this gracious deliverance was to be commei 
rated to the most distant periods of their ex 
ence as a nation. Interesting as the whole tra 
action was to the Jews, as a record of Divine v 
geance and memorial of Divine goodness — to 
Christians, who know what a far better and m 
glorious deliverance is here typified, it n 
open subjects of reflection and gratitude as mi 
more elevated and sublime than theirs, as " Ch 
our Passover" transcends in spotlessness and 



■ • 



MOBNINO SIXTH. 63 

lae, the ^^ lamb without blemish," selected for the 
outward symbol of redemption. 

But before entering on this inexhaustible sub- 
ject, let us notice that fulfilment of a temporal 
promise of Grod to Moses, with which our chap- 
ter commences. How were we to understand 
the ^* borrowing" from their neighbours of the 
gold and jewels which so greatly enriched the 
Israelites ? 

Mart. You said it meant demanding^ and 
that the firightened Egyptians gave more than 
was asked, to get rid of the Israelites. 

Mama. Exactly ; and what is here predicted 
of their being " thrust out," was wonderfully ful- 
filled, when, in the middle of the night the dis- 
tracted monarch entreats his long-detained vas- 
sals to ^' Rise up and get forth." By what last 
plague was this sudden revolution to be brought 
about? 

Mary. All the first-bom of Egypt were to 
die; '^ fix)m the first-bom of Pharaoh on the 
throne, to the first-bom of the maid-servant be- 
hind the mill." What does that mean. Mama ? 

Mama. In those primitive times (nay, to this 
day in the same eastern countries) the com used 
is chiefly ground by handmills, worked by slaves 
or female servants, sitting on the groimd with 
the mill (a sort of stone-trough or bowl) in their 



64 



MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 



lap ; a tedious expensive process, which we, wl 
have made wind, and water, and steam obedie 
to our enlarged faculties and wants, can hard 
conceive. But that it will likely exbt somewhe 
till the end of the world, we may gather firom 
remarkable verse in the New Testament. He 
does our Lord allude to it when speaking 
some mysterious separation which shall then tal 
place ? 

Mary. I don't remember. 

Mama. " Two women shall be grinding 
the mill — the one shall be taken, and the otli 
left." But what strong expression is here us 
to mark the dreadful effect on the Egyptians 
the impending judgment ? 

Mary. " There shall be a grectt cry throug 
out all the land of Egypt." 

Mama. This, which would be very applical 
to such universal bereavement anywhere, ^ 
peculiarly so to the Egyptians, who of all peo] 
were the most frantic and clamorous in th 
grief for the dead. Any one who has read 1 
account of the funeral wailings of Eastern natic 
to this day, when the death of a single indivldi 
is bemoaned by his friends, (assisted by hii 
mourners) \iith the most lamentable shrieks a 
bowlings — ^may figure what must have been i 
shrill horror of that " cry" which rose from the 



MORNING SIXTH. 65 

sands of distracted bosoms in the disastrous night 
when every house in Egypt was made childless ; 
when the splendour of the palace and darkness 
of the dungeon were alike ** called by the Lord 
Grod of Hosts to weeping and mourning.*' But 
was it so among the children of Israel ? 

Mart. Oh I no, Mama. 

Mama. And why ? 

Mart. " That Pharaoh might know God 
did put a difference between the Egyptians and 
IsraeL" 

Mama. Attend to this expression, Mary. It 
was God that put the difference, as he does every 
other. No merit of Israel over Egypt entitled 
the former people to exejnption from the coming 
evil ; and to make this plain beyond mistake, God 
was pleased to appoint a simple and apparently 
mefficacious observance, by which ahne (as sig- 
nifying the obedience of &ith) the believing house- 
holds of Israel could be distinguished from those 
of impenitent Egypt. Had the single circum- 
stance of birth and nation saved the first-bom of 
Israel, the arrogant boastings of that prejudiced 
people might to this day have found an excuse. 
But on the ** blood of sprinkling," then as now, 
was made to rest their whole assurance of safety, 
that all might know that on Christ alone, the 



66 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

Jew, as well as Gentile^ must build hiB hope of 
acceptance. 

But let us inquire into the precise nature of 
this type or symbol of Messiah slain for the 
whole world. What were the Israelites to sacri- 
fice? 

Mary. ^' A lamb without blemish^ a male of 
the first year." 

Mama. Here, as in most Jewish rites, we 
have two striking particulars of opposition to 
heathen superstitions. Lambs among the Egyp- 
tians were objects of worship, not victims ; and 
males were reverenced, so that if ever they did 
offer animal sacrifices, females were, on that ac- 
count, made use of. The minute directions about 
eating the lamb, were equally at variance with 
pagan customs. The flesh was to be roasted, 
not seethed in cauldrons, or even partially par- 
taken of raw, as in some heathen rites— -the 
*' purtenance," or entrails, were to be consumed 
or burnt, not reserved, fas was done by the idol 
priests) for purposes of divination ; not a bone 
was to be broken : and if the exact bearing of this 
injunction on forbidden rites remain uncertain, 
its remarkable fulfilment on the cross must ever 
give it reverence in our eyes. But it is in the 
blood our chief interest — the interest we share 



MORNING SIXTH. 67 

with past ages, and generations unborn-^eeply 
lies ; and no one who reads in &ith and humility 
the account of the '< sprinkling " here enjoined upon 
the Israelites, but mu^ see its wonderful analogy 
with the blood shed on Calvary << for the sins of 
many ;" whose iq)plication, and whose individual 
application alone, can turn away from the house- 
holds of our own day the execution of the uni- 
versal sentence gone out against their race. 

Mary. Mama I I wonder why God said he 
would ^< see th&> blood, and pass over." Did he 
not know who were Israelites, or his servants, as 
well without it ? 

Mama. Who were Israelites by birth he cer- 
tainly might, my dear — ^though ''all are not 
Israel who are so according to the flesh," says 
one of the greatest of human authorities. But 
it was precisely to ascertain by this test who 
were his servants indeed, that the Lord was 
pleased to appoint it. Had any Israelite, trust- 
ing in his descent from Abraham, omitted to 
sprinkle the blood on his door, — ^think you his 
first-bom would have been spared ? 

Mart. Oh I no, Mama. 

Mama. And why ? 

Mary. Because he would have disobeyed 
God. 

Mama. Yes, Mary, and in the most offensive 



68 mobKinos with mama. 

vay, by disbelieving him. Let us draw deep in- 
struction from this solemn, and to us doubly 
significant ceremony! If God appointed this 
rite, and no others for preserving the temporal life 
of the first-bom of Israel — and if we know on 
Divine testimony, that Christ our Passover ^ is 
slain for us, and that by his blood alone, we have 
peace with God" — is there from reason or pro- 
bability the slightest ground for supposing that 
any other means, however plausible, can save 
from eternal death those who *^ despise so great 
salvation ?" We should justly charge with folly 
any Hebrew, who by revising to sprinkle the 
blood of the lamb on his door-posts, lost his dar- 
ling son. Oh I remember, my child, this loss 
will be as nothing to the nominal Christian's, 
whose robes are not <* washed and made white in 
the blood of the Lamb," and who hath ** counted 
the blood of the covenant wherewith he" im^sAI 
have been sanctified *^ an unholy thing I" 

There is another remarkable particular con- 
tained in the Divine injunction, which may serve 
to enhance the awfal sanctity of the " blood of 
sprinkling." No Israelite was to go beyond the 
shelter of the threshold thus mysteriously hal- 
lowed, till the morning ; till the destroying angel's 
mission was fully accomplished, and a new day 
had dawned on^a night of wrath and vengeance. 



MORNING SIXTH. 69 

Does not this warn every Christian to abide 
doeely within the *^ ark of refuge " provided for 
him by hm God in a world of peril and tempta- 
tion, till the ^ last enemy shall be destroyed/* and 
**the Sun of Righteousness be risen with healing 
under his wings ?" 

But the Faaaover having been sacrificed — ^by 
what further emblems are the insecurity and pre- 
eariousness, and passing nature of man's condi- 
tion on earth, here shadowed forth ? How were 
the Israelites to eat their Passover? 

Mart. " With bitter herbs, Mama, and with 
unleavened bread — ^with their loins girded, and 
shoes on their feet, and their staff in their hand," 
Hke people going on a journey. 

Mama. And so they were, Mary, and so are 
we ; strangers and pilgrims like them in an un- 
known wilderness, where none of us can say 
what a day may bring forth, where the next night 
our heads may be laid, or from what quarter the 
whirlwind of the desert may rise and blast our 
fondest earthly hopes I But, like them, we have 
God for our guide and guardian; and if, like 
them, we leave the bondage of Egypt behind us, 
and look forward to the heavenly Canaan, sure 
we are, that through all the stages of our pilgrim- 
age, yea, even in the dark valley which forms its 



70 

mortal bouDdary— " His rod and staff" wiU 
be withheld. 

But, my dear Mary, let us notice one gna 
purpose among many, which the perpttmal 
serrance of the Passover vas designed to k 
What says rerse 25th of the 13th oh^iterp 

Mart. " When your children shall say i 
you, What mean ye by this service ? Ye t 
say, it is the Lord's passover." 

Mama. This is not the first time, my i 
we have had to remark a condescending rej 
to the instruction of the young, in the com 
of Him who said " suffer little children to c 
uato me." Are not such ungratetiil in the 
treme, if by inattention or levity they mai 
ineffectual ? You are indignant, and juatl] 
at Pharaoh for stnving to defeat God's purj 
Have you ever thought you conld be a shon 
his sin by disregarding its punishment ? "S 
child of promise was initiated at twelve yean 
in the important rite of the Passover ? 
' Mahv. Our blessed Lord, Mama. 

Mama. Yes, Mary — the very Divine ol 
of this ancient rite condescended to hallow i 
his presence, thua — for an example to the yi 
of all ages — " fulfilling all righteousneas," 

We have now seen the accomplishmen 
God's dreadful threat on the Egyptians — ^ 



MORNING SIXTH. 7^ 

Feet had universal calamity on the hitherto 
ubbom monarch ? 

Mart. He besought Moses and Aaron to go 
wBj immediately, and the people begged them 
)o, sajringy ^' we be all dead men.*' 

Mama. How long had Israel sojourned in 
Igypt? 

Mart. *^ Four hundred and thirty years" it 
lys here^ but I thought you said only two hun- 
red and sixty. 

Mama. Very well remembered. The sacred 
istorian here includes all the time which had 
lapsed firom the call of Abraham ; nearly half of 
rhich was spent in Canaan, where, as well as in 
Dgypt, he and his posterity were, we know, 
= strangers and sojourners.'* To what numbers 
loes the 37th verse say they had increased in 
hat period? 

Mart. Six hundred thousand men, besides 
:hildren. 

Mama. A prodigious increase, (as we re- 
oarked) of the ** seventy souls" that came in with 
facob. And what is said respecting the manner 
n which this enormous multitude left Egypt ? 

Mart. " All the hosts of the Lord" went 
>ut from the land of Egypt. 

Mama. This seems to imply, that notwith- 
itanding the haste which the panic of their ene- 



72 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

mies occasioned, the chosen people of Grod march- 
ed forth under his banner with the regularity of 
a well-ordered army. Indeed, this is confirmed 
by the subsequent accounts of their discipline 
and encampments. What further injunction haye 
we, in the 13th chapter, commemoratiye of the 
deliverance of the first-bom, when the people 
should be settled in Canaan ? 

Mary. All the first-bom of men and beasts 
were to continue holy to God, and be his for 
ever. 

Mama. Did every parent then literally dedi- 
cate his eldest son to God's immediate service, 
as we know was the case with pious Hannah ? 

Mary. No, they might redeem them. You 
know. Mama, our Lord's mother brought two 
turtle doves in place of him. 

Mama. Not exactly in place of him, my dear, 
(though your answer is a proof of attention,) but 
rather as a permitted and gratefiil acknowledg- 
ment of that later ordinance of a God of mercy, 
by which he was' pleased to sanctify to hims^ 
the children of Levi, as a substitute for all the 
first-bom of the other tribes. 

Nothing is more remarkable in the whole 
transaction than God's regard to perpetuate 
(among the young especially,) its important de- 
sign. Do you know how the gross and caniai 



MOBNIK6 SIXTH. 7^ 

Jews peireitedy by a literal interpretation, the 
order to ** shew their tons these things, and wear 
them for a sign upon their hand and a memorial 
between their eyes ?" 

Mary. I don't know, Mama. 

Mama. They wrote the toords of this very 
chapter on little rolls of parchment called '< phy- 
lacteries," and bound them like charms on their 
wrists and foreheads ; not aware that it was on 
their heart that God had promised to " write all 
his laws." Inferior, however, as were these 
outward symbols to inward piety, (as was seen 
in the case of the Pharisees, who made great use 
of them,) they may rebuke those among us who, 
by despising external memoriab of their spiritual 
deliverance, give too much reason to doubt their 
value for its inward effects. 

With this remark let us end our present les- 
son, enforcing it by the words of our blessed 
Lord ; who, (speaking of the minor observances 
of the Mosaic ritual, as opposed to its '< weightier 
matters'* of " judgment and mercy,") hath said, 
" these ought ye to have done, but not to leave 
the other undone." Remember the use of all 
religious observances is either to testify that the 
heart is already right with God, or as the ap- 
pointed means of enabling it to become so. In- 
stead of writing, (like the superstitious Jews,) 



7* 

the fundamental doctrines of our biib on 
able scraps of parchment, let ns pray God 
grave them on our inmost souls, not " i 
,^ broad," like the Pharisees, these externa 

^'' J| meats of a sanctified profession, but diaj 

in our lives the only true evidence of our 
ual delivennoe, even living &iUi and n 
obedience. 



7« 



MORNING SEVENTH, 



LzssoN.— Exodus, Oiapten ziiL (from v. I7X zir. and zv^ 



Mama. Numerous, my dear Mary ^ as are the 
instances of divine vengeance on despisers of 
God, recorded for our instruction in the Bible, I 
know of none more striking and terrible than the 
subjects of this day's lesson. We have seen 
nearly all the powers of nature wielded in vain 
by him who is their author, for the chastisement 
and humiliation of Pharaoh, and are now called 
upon to behold with awe, on the margin of the 
Red Sea, the God by whom alone " its proud 
waves could be stayed," withholding his retain- 
ing hand, and burying in their fathomless depths 
the enemies of himself and his people. These 
things, Mary, were recorded for our edifica- 
tion. The " red right arm of the Lord," though 
no longer " made bare " as of old to our wonder- 
ing senses, is not shortened, that it cannot either 



76 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

save or punish with the same resistless energy ; 
'and the sea which rolled its dosing billows over 
Pharaoh and his host, is but a faint emblem of 
that abyss of << destruction from the fitee of the 
Lord and his anointed/' which awaits the ungod- 
ly at the latter day. 

But let us turn to the more encouraging fea- 
tures of this awful narration. What kind con- 
descension in God to the fears of a newly eman- 
cipated race of slaves, do we find in the close of 
the Idth chapter! 

Mary. He would not lead the people the near 
way by the land of the Philistines, '< lest they 
should see war and be afraid," but through the 
wilderness of the Red Sea. Why was it called 
« Red," Mama? 

Mama. The most likely explanation is, that as it 
was called sea of Edom, and that word in Hebrew 
signifies also '< red," the Greeks thus translated 
it, not knowing it to be a proper name. Its an- 
cient Hebrew name was the " sea of weeds," per- 
haps from its profusion of coral, long mistaken 
for a vegetable production. 

Mary. How broad was it where the Israel- 
ites crossed ? 

Mama. About twelve miles, it is supposed, 
and the spot is so ascertained by constant tradi- 
tion, as well as by the names of places, (expres- 



HOBNIN6 SBVBNTH. 77 

sive of local situation), recorded by Moses, that 
there can be little doubt respectiDg it. The 
name, '^ Pikakirothy** meaniDg the <* mouth of the 
ridge," identifies it with an opening in the great 
chain of mountains that line the western coast. 
So &r we have the direct authority of Scripture, 
and it is very pleasing to the Christian who visits 
the memorable scene, to have it corroborated by 
native traditions, and the remarkable Arab names 
of " Attaca,'' or deliverance, the " cape of Mo- 
ses," '^ the springs and bay of Pharaoh ;" while 
the whole gulf bears the awfully significant title 
to this day of ^* Bahr el Kolsum," the Bay of 
Submersion. 

But before proceeding to the passage, what did 
the Israelites carry up with them from Egypt, in 
testimony of their own &ith and that of others ? 

Mary. The bones of Joseph, who had ex- 
pressly ordered it. 

Mama. And under what gracious symbol was 
the Lord of Hosts pleased to manifest himself 
as the guardian and guide of his people ? 

Mart. In a pillar of cloud by day, to shew 
them the way, and a pillar of fire by night, to 
give them light. How kind this was of God, 
Mamal 

Mama. Yes, Mary, these manifestations must 



^S MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

have been cheering in an unknown wilderness to 
a timid and bewildered people. But let us never 
forget, that like them we have by day and by 
night, in our journey through life, a beacon no 
less friendly and immutable, in the word of Him 
who cannot err, and the promises of Him who 
cannot lie. With the one to direct and the 
other to animate our footsteps, whose &ult will 
it be, think you, if like the greater part of the 
Israelites, we wander out our sinful lives in this 
world's wilderness, without advancing one step 
towards the heavenly Canaan ? 

But to return to the Israelites. Their heavenly 
guide now conducted them, (as He frequently 
does ourselves), by movements the most contrary 
to human policy and expediency, to a perilous 
and seemingly hopeless position, between the 
sea on one hand and lofty desert mountains on 
the other. Instead of leading them round the 
head of the Red sea, they were made to coast it 
for near twenty miles, and encamp over against 
" Baal Zephon," supposed from its name to be a 
place of idol worship for mariners, and therefore 
peculiarly appropriate for the triumph of Jeho- 
Tah. But how had the departure of the Israel- 
ites and relief from present calamity affected Pha- 
raoh ? 

Mary. Oh! he repented having let them 




HOBNINO SEVENTH. 7^ 

gO) and reflected on himself for having done it, 
and pursued them with all his people and six 
hundred chariots. What kind of chariots, Mama ? 
Mama. War chariots, Mary, of which we 
read frequently in the Bible and other ancient his- 
tories. They were very formidable instruments of 
destruction, being often armed with scythes and 
other sharp weapons, by which, in addition to 
the fighting men they carried, they mowed down 
whole ranks of the enemy. But did they in this 
instance serve Pharaoh against a people utterly 
unprovided with the means of defence ? No. 
Well might David say at an after period, '^ We 
will not put our trust in chariots or in horses, 
but in the Lord our God ;" when the mixed and 
unarmed multitude which came out of Egypt 
witnessed the defeat of Pharaoh and all his cha- 
riots I But had that &int-hearted people at the 
'ime derived confidence from their late signal de- 
iverance and Jehovah's visible presence ? 
Mary. No, Mama. " They were sore afiuid, " 
id reproached Moses for bringing them to die 
the wilderness. I wonder God did not just 
them do so. 

Mama. And so He might, Mary, if, (as you 
ays seem inclined to infer) their merits or 
r exaltation had any thipg to do with God's 
lication of his own honour, and of His cove- 



80 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

nant with their ancestors. So anxious seems 
Moses to have been to exclude them from all 
share in the glorious catastrophe, that with a 
sublimity of confidence in the Most High which 
has never been surpassed, he bids them merely 
^< stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." 
And by what apparently insignificant instrument 
was this great deliverance accomplished ? 

Mary. By the rod of Moses, Mama. He 
was to lift it up, and divide the sea, and the 
people were to go through on dry ground. 

Mama. What proof have we in the next 
verse that God's main design was more than the 
mere escape of the Israelites ? 

Mary. The '< Egyptians shall know that I 
am the Lord, when I have gotten me honour 
upon Pharaoh, and upon his chariots, and his 
horsemen." 

Mama. By what remarkable change in the 
Divine Presence, or " Shechinah,'* were the Is- 
raelites encouraged, and their enemies bewil- 
dered ? 

Mary. The « Pillar of Cloud" left the firont 
and went behind, between the two armies; 
giving light to Israel, and darkness to the Egyp- 
tians. 

Mama. A distinction still to be found in the 
world, Mary, relative to the Gospel, between 



MOANING SEVENTH. 81 

those who receive, and those who despise it ; to 
the former a savour and foretaste of life, to the 
latter, of condemnation. How dreadful must 
have been the apprehensions of the presumptuous 
Pharaoh and his host, when involved past extri- 
cation in the returning billows, *' the Lord look- 
ed out upon them from the pillar of fire and 
cloud, and troubled them I " Mary I let Him 
never have cause so to look upon us, when walk- 
ing through the yet deeper waters which lie be- 
tween every one of us and the promised land ; 
waters which the ^' rod and staff" of the Al- 
mighty can alone enable any child of mortality 
to pass untroubled and unhurt. In ^ain did the 
Egyptians, entangled among rashly encountered 
perils, seek rescue in flight — in vain too late ac- 
knowledge that God fought against them. He 
who shall *' mock" at all who forget God << when 
their fear cometh," laughed them to scorn ; his 
billows went over them, " the Lord overthrew 
the Egyptians in the midst of the sea." 

Mart. Mama I perhaps it was because of 
their drowning the Israelites' children, that God 
punished them so. 

Mama. Possibly, my dear; for although we 
have no authority for saying so in this case, there 
is often a mysterious correspondence between 
guilt and punishment. I am glad it occurred to 



82 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

you. But leaving the incorrigible hosts of Egypt 
to their fate, how did this miraculous deliverance 
affect the children of Israel ? 

Mary. " When the people saw that great 
work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians, 
they feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and 
his servant Moses." 

Mama. Let it be so with us, Mary, when we 
see its record in the sacred volume, and let us 
not dwell alone on the power and goodness then 
displayed, but on the far more glorious deliver- 
ance we ourselves have experienced. For us also 
hath a way been opened across the pathless gulf 
which divided us from God and heaven — ^before 
us has the same <^ angel of the covenant** trode its 
unfathomable depths, and braved its raging bil- 
lows. It has closed in awful judgment on His 
and our enemies — should not its shores, like those 
of the Red Sea of old, echo with the songs of the 
" ransomed of the Lord ?" Remember, my dear 
Mary, when you read and admire (as infidels and 
scoffers themselves have been constrained to do) 
that sublimest of inspired hymns, the " Song of 
Moses" on the destruction of Pharaoh, that there 
is not a note of praise and thanksgiving in it, 
which may not breathe a holier and more heart- 
felt meaning, on the lips of an heir of Christian 
salvation ! If his Lord was magnified on Pharaoh 



MOmNING SETBNTH. 83 

utd hm host, how much greater the triumph over 
the powers of darkness achieved at the cruci- 
fixion ? If it was rescue worthy of <^ everlasting 
remembrance " to walk unhurt the waves of the 
Red Sea, where the Egyptian blasphemer and 
his legions '< sank like lead in the mighty waters I" 
is not escape firom the bottomless pit, << reserved 
for the devil and his angels," more wonderful and 
precious still ? And above all, if the planting of 
God's purchased people, << in the mountain of his 
inheritance" upon earth, called forth the prophe- 
tic gratitude of Moses and his inspired kindred — 
where shall tee find words, who have in the Zion 
above ** an inheritance, incorruptible, and unde- 
filed, and that fadeth not away?" Let the share 
(no rash or unbecoming one, agreeably to the 
custom of the times,) which Miriam, the sister 
of Motes, took in the celebration of Jehovah's 
pruBea, warm all female bosoms with a like spirit 
of fervid devotion; and, though restrained by 
modem manners, and apostolic injunction, from 
coming forward conspicuously in the public ser- 
vice of Grod, let us ** make melody in our hearts," 
when we reflect on the great things which we 
are daily called on to commemorate. 

But, Mary, unmingled joy and triumph are not 
the destined lot of humanity, nor the lasting com- 
panions of a journey through the desert. What 



84 M0BNIN69 WITH MAMA. 

occurred ere long to damp the enthusiasm and 
awake the sinftil murmurs of the Israelites ? 

Mary. The bitter waters of " Marah,** Ma- 
ma. They forgot the passage of the Red Sea, 
at the first little inconyenience, and were discon- 
tented immediately. 

Mama. Oh I Mary, you are unconsdously 
describing every one of ourselves I One slight 
cross blots out the remembrance of a life of pro- 
vidences. Wisely, indeed, are drops of bitter- 
ness mingled in our cup by Him <^ who doeth all 
things well ;* since the very abuse we make of 
the gracious warning, is the best proof of its ne- 
cessity. Instead of rejoicing, as many a poor 
pilgrim does at this day, in the same desert, 
(where there are only in 315 miles, about four 
wholesome springs,) even in the brackish and 
distasteful refreshment of Marah — ^the Israelites 
murmured against Moses, and consequently 
against God. But what chiefly concerns us in 
the relation, is the expedient pointed out by an 
indulgent God (in compliance with the prayer of 
his servant,) for rendering the waters not only 
drinkable, but salutary. We too have a specific 
for sweetening and healing the bitter fountains all 
must drink of in their pilgrimage through life. 
It is a plant of heaven, and called Religion. Man 
cannot find it imassisted, any more than Moses 



MOBNINO SEVENTH. 85 

could the ^ tree" of healing in our chapter ; nor, 
without a blessing firom on high, could it render, 
as it invariably does, the wormwood springs of 
earthly sorrow more healthful (if not so palatable 
to flesh and blood) than the flowing wells and 
spreading palm-groves of Elim. 

Mary. Mama I How happy they must have 
been in the desert, to find so many wells and 
treesi 

Mama. Doubtless, Mary, as they encamped 
there to enjoy them ; and you will be pleased to 
find that nine at least of the twelve wells are 
distinctly visible to modem travellers (the sand- 
drifls so common in that quarter having choked 
the other three) while the threescore palm-trees, 
to the inexpressible comfort of the way-worn 
wanderer in those sultry wastes, have multiplied 
to two thousand. Under their time-honoured 
shade stands what is shown by the neighbouring 
tribes as the << Bath of Moses,'' held by them in 
extraordinary veneration, and pointed out by 
them to this day, as the spot where the lawgiver 
of Israel and his own household specially en- 
camped. 

We have now followed the children of Israel 
from a state of oppression and imminent peril, to 
one of comparative ease and rest, which we shall 



86 1IOBNING6 WITH MAMA. 

ere long see to be dangerous, if not fidaJ, to the 
piety of that carnal and ungrateful p<^ralation. 

Let us beware, like them, of forgetting either 
past mercies or past sufferings, and idly suppos- 
ing exemption from trouble and exertion can be 
either intended, or wholesome for man. You, 
Mary, like emancipated Israel, are but on the 
threshold of a long and arduous journey ; em- 
bark on it in the strength of the same Grod, and 
He can turn to the eye of faith its barren ^ desert 
into water^rings," and make its dreariest wil- 
derness to ** blossom as the rose." 



87 



MORNING EIGHTH. 



IiEMOML^-Enodm, QiRptenzYi. andxYii. 

Mama. We have in these chapters, my dear 
childy the record of a train of miracles, by which 
it pleased God — in continued proof of his power 
to preserve as well as rescue his chosen people — 
to provide for their sustenance in a situation 
where human means of support were wholly be- 
yond their reach. In this, as*' in other portions 
of their history, we may find, along with much 
spiritual improvement, matter for personal appli- 
cation. We are ready enough to exclaim against 
the Israelites for regretting Egypt, and loathing 
manna, and breaking out (forgetful of the healed 
fountain of Marah) into sinful murmurings at 
Rephidim. We think their ingratitude and in- 
sensibility almost beyond nature ; never remem- 
bering, that not only is every temporal blessing 
of our lot as directly (though invisibly) the gift 
of God, as the supernatural supplies of the desert 
— ^but that in a higher and spiritual sense we too 



88 MOBNINOS WITH MAMA. 

have ^ bread that came down from heayeny** and 
^ liying waters " from the same ^ Rock that fol- 
lowed them, even Christ ;" and must own onr- 
selves ^ verily goilty** of the same sin of under- 
valuing the one, and forgetting the other I How 
many treat the ^ bread of life" as the ungratefril 
Israelites did the manna, either asking with scom- 
ftd incredulity " What is it ?" or seeking its sup- 
ply in a manner not commanded or authorized 
by God, or lastly and most unpardonably, loath- 
ing its heavenly sweetness, and preferring the 
bitterest apples of Sodom the wilderness can 
afford, to its invigorating nourishment; while, 
whenever the ** broken cisterns" of the desert 
oozing forth brackish and poisonous streams, 
suddenly &il their deluded frequenters — those at 
whose command is placed a gratuitous fountain 
of living waters, outrage their God like the Isra- 
elites with murmurs and complaints. 

Let it not be so with us, Mary. In every tem- 
poral provision, let us acknowledge the hand of 
Him who '< openeth it, and filleth all things liv- 
ing with plenteousness ;" and should it ever fail 
or come short, let us turn the more heartily to 
the ^' bread which whosoever eateth shall never 
die," and to the " well of water which shall be 
within us springing up unto everlasting life !" 



i-' 



How long htd Ike cUdboi offand ^ajayrd 

the BciwwyiWr rc fr cifa Beataf EBm? 

Mart. I doa^t kwnr enedy. It says Hkj 
left it tiie « fifteeatk dmj oftke aeeoBd Moatk."* 

MiLMA. Then, «■ thepuMom wMwHihKtkcd 
on the fifteenth day of Ike fint, tkej BHt have 
been neaily a iioiitky l aJLaiiaiin g in the shade 
and fteahneflB of the pal«-growey — hmg enongh, 
one wookl tiiink, to hj in a itodL both of frith 
and gratitade for fatme tnab. Bat i^at hap- 
pened the moment they Ibond themselves once 
more in the desert ? 

Mary. They munnmred. Mama, and wished 
they had died in Egypt. How ibolish as well 
as wicked! 

Mama. Andi^at was the cause of this base 
and sinlol conduct ? 

Mart. They r^retted the ** flesh pots of 
Egypt,** and said they had there ** bread to the 
inll." I dare say that was a story. Mama; for 
how could such poor ill-used creatures have had 
plenty of meat and bread ? 

Mama. It was probably just as fidse as most 
of the reflections on Providence extorted by 
man's discontent and perverseness. How many 
who have ** made bricks without straw" at the 
bidding of this world's taskmasters, during a long 
life, presume to contrast this abject condition 



90 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

with the " free service" and " easy yoke" of 
Christ I How did God requite these ungrateful 
liars? 

Mary. He said he would " rain bread on them 
from Heaven." If he had rained fire on them, 
like Sodom, it would not have been surprising. 

Mama. Mary, when shall we cease to think 
that '< God is even such an one as ourselves," or 
to measure " His ways with our ways ?" Of 
what nature was the bread so sent ? 

Mary. I don't know. There is a thing called 
** manna" yet, which I have seen given to the 
children : was it the same ? 

Mama. This has been attempted to be proved, 
because the manna you mean is still found in 
that part of the world, though in very small 
quantities, and differing in many essential parti- 
culars from that described in Scripture. But it 
b of little consequence to the miracle : for the 
extent and regulation of the supply, its disap- 
pearance as the sun rose, and wonderful proper- 
ties of not keeping over night (except on the 
Sabbath), render it as completely miraculous, 
as if no such natural production had ever existed. 
What are we to learn from its being sent " daily," 
and in quantities strictly proportioned to every 
man's daily wants ? 

Mary. Dependence upon God, Mama. We 



MORNING EIGHTH. 91 

ask him to give us our <' daily bread" still, you 
know. 

Mama. Very well applied. Remember, we 
receive it as directly at his hand now, as if we 
could trace the mysterious process by which he 
yet sends it us firom heaven, by means of the rain 
and sunshine which causeth << com to grow, and 
herb for the food of man.'' What ancient institu- 
tion, coeval with the creation, was miraculously 
confirmed by the provision of manna ? 

Mary. The Sabbath, I suppose you mean. 
Mama; for none fell that day, and the sixth 
day's kept good over it. 

Mama. This, Mary, while it places beyond a 
doubt the existence and recognised sanctity of the 
Sabbath, long before the delivering of the law upon 
Mount Sinai, may surely be interpreted by us as 
a Divine sanction for abstinence from worldly 
cares on God*s holy day. What happened to 
some of the people who went out to gather 
manna on the Sabbath ? 

Mary. They found nothing ; and no wonder 
— God had told them so. 

Mama. And has He not told us, Mary, in 
many parts of His word — as well as by the ex- 
ample of our Lord and his disciples (whom it 
ever found in the temple, in the synagogue, or 
all with one accord in one house praying and 



92 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

praising God,) to call it also '^ holy and honour- 
able/' and abstain from doing on it (as is the 
practice with too many) *< our own pleasure/' or 
our own work ? Let us be deterred from such a 
perversion of a most merciful institution, by the 
disappointment here recorded as its fruit, in the 
case of the unbelieving Israelites. How did God 
provide as usual for the future remembrance of 
this miraculous bread from heaven ? 

Mary. Most wonderfully, Mama I A pot of 
this manna (which would not keep till next day) 
was to be laid up, that << generations " to come 
might see it I 

Mama. Such unlimited power has the Author 
of all created things over their substance and pro- 
perties I And yet we find it hard to believe that 
the bodies which we see subject to corruption, 
can be by Him made to '* put on incorruption, 
and this mortal to put on immortality." Where 
was the manna thus wonderfully preserved to be 
kept? 

Mary. " Before the testimony."— -Where was 
that? 

Mama. It means the same as << before the 
Lord," in the preceding verse— being laid up in 
the ark of the testimony, between the cherubim 
on which the Divine presence was graciously 
manifested. What other memorial of their re* 



MORNING EIGHTH. 93 

sidence in the desert was afterwards there depo- 
sited? 

Mary. I don't remember. 

Mama. The two tables of the law, Mary, 
originally delivered to Moses on Sinai; that mo- 
ral law, " not one jot or tittle of which," our Lord 
says, '< shall pass away" — ^though the mere Mo- 
saic ritual, having served its temporary purpose, 
has melted — like the daily supply of manna^ 
before the meridian splendour of the '* Sun of 
Righteousness." 

Mama. How much was the " omer," Mama, 
that God allowed for each person ? 

Mama. About half a peck of our measure ; 
an ample supply, we may conclude, else it would 
not have been thus limited by " Him who giveth 
liberally and upbraideth not" Yet how did he 
"upbraid" or rebuke the greediness of those who 
sought to go beyond his allotment ? 

Mary. Mama, let them gather ever so much, 
" they had nothing over." It served them right I 

Mama. And what merciful provision was 
made by the same Hand, for those who from 
weakness or infirmity could but inadequately 
provide for themselves ? 

Mary. " He that gathered little had no lack." 
How kind this was in God I 

Mama. Yes, Mary, and we may tca.o.'^ VJcsfc 



94 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

same benevolent spirit in the ample measure of 
saving grace often vouchsafed from on High to 
the honest Christian, whom want of ability or 
education has deprived of the power of '^ gather- 
ing much" in the way of human learning, or even 
religious knowledge. But remember, in neither 
case is there the smallest encouragement held 
out to wilful indolence. The slothful Israelite 
who let the sun rise, and the hour for laying up 
his daily store escape him, and the negligent 
Christian, who defers his spiritual provision till 
the '' night cometh when no man can work," shall 
alike be " sent empty away." 

Mart. But, Mama, manna was not the only 
food God was pleased to send the people. He 
sent quails too. 

Mama. And why do you suppose this fresh 
miracle (for the daily arrival and incredible 
abundance of the birds, sufficient to serve two 
millions of people for a month, evidently attest it 
to be such) was wrought ? 

Mart. I know now. Mama. It was not to 
please the people's longing for flesh, but to shew 
that God could give it them in the wilderness, as 
easily as bread. 

Mama. Very well answered, my dear, and 
a proof that you are beginning to feel, by digest- 
ing and applying the spiritual food afforded you. 



MORNING XIGHTH. 95 

that << man doth not live by bread alone, but by 
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of 
God/' Let His temporal gifts always remind 
you of that higher and holier nourishment. How 
long did the children of Israel eat manna ? 

Mary. Forty years. What a long time for 
bread to rain from heaven on so many people I 

Mama. Yes, Mary, and what a long time 
for pensioners on God's daily bounty, to despise, 
and affront, and rebel against him. What says 
the psalm you repeat so often ? 

Mary. " Forty years long was I grieved 
with this people, and said, they do err in their 
hearts, that they have not known my ways." 

Mama. Aye^ Mary, ^Hn their hearts /" There 
is the source of all ftttal error to be sought and 
found. It was the perverse hearts of the Israel- 
ites alone that prevented their knowing God's 
ways, so hourly displayed before their eyes. 
Let us take care ours be not abo hardened '^ to- 
day," lest we also grieve the Holy Spirit, and 
provoke him to withdraw from us. But what 
hope may we gather from the supply of manna 
being continued (notwithstanding the people's 
unworthiness) till they came to the borders of 
Canaan? 

Mary. I suppose that God will feed us also, 
all our lives upon earth. 



96 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

Mama. Yes, my dear, not only with << food 
convenient ** for our earthly sustenance, but with 
the support from above, which can alone enable 
us to reach our heavenly Canaan. To what first 
trial did the Israelites put the forbearance of 
Jehovah ? 

Mary. When they pitched at Rephidim 
there was no water, and they did '< chide with 
Moses," and said he had brought them out of 
Egypt to kill them with thirst. Poor Moses ! 
I wonder he kept his temper so well ! 

Ma ma. Are we not told he was " meek above 
all men on the face of the earth ?" He could 
excuse any thing (as we shall see ere long) ex- 
cept ingratitude to God. How did He now 
answer the supplication of his ill-requited ser- 
vant? 

Mary. He bid him take his rod, which had 
opened a way through the sea, and strike the 
rock and bring out water. 

Mama. What rock, my dear? 

Mary. The rock of Horeb. 

Mama. Has this mountain any other name ? 

Mary. I believe it and Sinai are the same. 

Mama. They are ; only Horeb (in which you 
know the burning bush also was) is supposed to 
apply to the whole mountain or range, and Sinai 
to its lofty pinnacle whence the Law was uttered 



MORNING EIGHTH. 97 

amid thtmders and lightning. What warfare 
now for the first time, awaited the wicked Israel- 
ites? 

Mary. <^ Amalek came and fought with 
them." 

Mama. Observe the time, just when super- 
natural succours had been vouchsafed. And 
who were the Amalekites ? 

Mary. I don't know. 

Mama. Descendants of the eldest son of 
Esau, whose unprovoked violence to their kins- 
men justified the resistance permitted by God. 
What part did Moses take in the conflict ? 

Mary. He took the " rod of God " in his hand, 
and as long as he held it up, '* Israel prevailed." 

Mama. And how was he assisted when his 
bodily weakness threatened his people with de- 
feat? 

Mary. Aaron and Hur held up his hands on 
each side " till the going down of the sun." 

Mama. The whole transaction was a visible 
token, (such as a gross and carnal people re- 
quire), of the efficacy of perseverance in prayer. 
Let the " lifting up of our hands" also be per- 
petual to him who hath said, that " men ought to 
pray always and not to faint." Why did God 
theaten Amalek with utter extinction ? 

K 



98 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

Mary. I suppose for trying to hurt his peo- 
ple. 

Mama. Yes, Mary. Injuries to them are 
resented and avenged by him who said in later 
times, << Whosoever offendeth one of these little 
ones, it were better for him he had never been 
bom." Let us conclude with and adopt the glo- 
rious motto inscribed by Moses on his altar, 
" The Lord our Banner ;" and our victory, like 
that of Israel over His and our enemies, will be 
certain and complete. 



99 



MORNING NINTH, 
Lesson. — Exodus, Chapters xviii. xu& and xx. 

Mama. In these interesting chapters, my 
dear child, we have the record of the most im- 
portant transaction which, from the creation to 
the redemption of the world, ever took place be- 
tween the Almighty and man. In the mount of 
God and its awful vicinity, we have, on the one 
hand, the Creator and Lawgiver of the universe 
promulgating, with the most impressive circum- 
stances of natural and supernatural solemnity, 
that immutable law which, to Christian as well 
as Jew, our Lord has pronounced to be of ever- 
lasting obligation, nay, which the passing away 
<< of heaven and earth '' is insufficient to weaken 
or annul — and, on the other, the stupidest and 
most insensible people on earth, *^ persuaded " by 
the irresistible " terrors of the law," into not 
only implicit but cheerful reception of this pure 
and perfect rote of duty. WeU had it bee.wfe^ 



100 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

them had these words of ready assent, '< All that 
the Lord hath spoken we will do," not vanished 
with the clouds, and died away with the thun- 
derings amid which they were extorted from a 
people, with whom to " forget God " was a pre- 
vailing habit, not an occasional misfortune I 

Let us examine those stupendous particulars 
of th0 present revelation which made its subse- 
quent transgression so peculiarly unpardonable ; 
but before entering on them, tell me who, in the 
first of this day's chapters, came to Moses, no 
doubt an honoured and welcome guest ? 

Mary. His father-in-law, Jethro, and he 
brought with him his sons and his wife. We 
never heard they had gone back to Midian. 

Mama. When it happened we are not told, 
but it was most natural for them now to rejoin 
Moses. Why so ? 

Mary. Because you told me the burning 
bush where Moses kept his father-in-law's flock, 
was in Horeb, so now his home could not have 
been far off. 

Mama. Very well remembered. What bless- 
ed effects had the knowledge acquired by Jethro 
of the doings of God for Israel, through his son- 
in-law, on his mind ? 

Mary. He said, " Now I know that the Lord 
is greater than all gods," and he offered a burnt- 



MORNING NINTH. 101 

offering to Him, along with the elders of Is- 
rael. 

Mama. This must have been a most gratify- 
ing circumstance to Moses. What gracious pre- 
diction did it fulfil ? 

Mart. You know Grod had promised in the 
bush, that Israel should worship God <^ on that 
mountain." 

Mama. Good again, Mary. Not a << jot or 
tittle" of God*s tesHmonyy any more than of His 
law, shall fail. With what excellent advice did 
this experienced << Prince of Midian" follow up 
his recognition of the true Grod ? 

Mary. He advised Moses to appoint wise 
men to help him to judge the people, as he was 
not able to do it alone, and to give ^them ordi- 
nances and laws to teach them how they should 
walk. 

Mama. The advice was sound and judicious^ 
and Moses obeyed it as &r as the appointment 
of subordinate judges went ; but as we do not 
read of his taking upon himself to give laws to 
God's people, we may very reasonably infer that 
it was in consequence of his prayers for direction 
in so essential a matter, that Jehovah condescend- 
ed in the following chapter to assume the office 
of Lawgiver. Yet, observe, it is carried on, (like 
all the proceedings of God with mexi^ \3kx^>\^'«sv 



102 MORNINGS WITH MAMA 

appointed human instrument ; and it is to Moses 
the awful words are in the first instance address- 
ed, though the people were permitted to hear 
afar off the celestial voice. In what part of the 
mountain did this wonderful colloquy take place? 

Mary. On Sinai ; you said that was the name 
of the summit 

Mama. Yes; modern travellers inform us 
that of the three peaks of Horeb, that of Sinai 
(still called in the neighbourhood, the Mount of 
Moses,) is incomparably the highest, having at 
its foot the monastery of St. Catherine's, from 
whence 14,090 steps, once led to the very sum- 
mit, some of which are yet visible. It is pleas- 
ing when tradition thus lingers around spots for 
ever hallowed by positive revelation. By what 
awful preparatory directions did God enhance 
the solemnity of the law He was about to deli- 

TCP? 

Maby. The people were to " sanctify them- 
selves" three days before, and wash their clothes ; 
and no creature (not even a beast) was to touch 
the mountain and live. Mama,. this was enough 
to terrify any people. 

Mama. And so it did, Mary, for the time ; 

while the trumpets and thunders mingled their 

voice, while " smoke as of a furnace" ascended 

from Sinai, " all the people that were in the camp 



MORNING NINfH. 103 

trembled," — nay, it is said, Moses himself did 
*< exceedingly fear and quake." Yet firom the 
rapid and shameful oblivion into which both 
wonders and precepts shortly fell, with a rebel- 
lious and stiff-necked people, we have too much 
reason to fear that the only valid preparation — 
that of the heart — was neglected, and the only 
salutary fear — that of offending God — utterly 
wanting among the Israelites. Let it not be so 
with us, Mary. When contrasting, as we ought 
ever with humble and rejoicing hearts to do, the. 
•affecting tenor of our message of love in the 
Gospel, with the '* mount that might not be 
touched," and " the words which they that heard 
prayed might not be spoken any mqre" of Sinai, 
— ^let us never forget, that for the due reception 
of the " still small voice" speaking " better things" 
with which we are fevoured, a preparation more 
deep and heart-searching than that of the wilder- 
ness is indispensably required. And how dif- 
ferent, how delightfully different, are the accom- 
panying circumstances of the two dispensations ! 
We are not bidden, like the Israelites, to " stand 
afar off" from the mount of God, and forbear to 
gaze on its mysteries, lest some inadvertent pro- 
fenation should be atoned for with life, and an 
angry God should " break forth" on us in judg- 
ment. We are invited to " dww m\ga. Va^ ^^^^ 



104 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

assuraneeof fkith"-— to '< come to Christ that our 
tsouls may live" — to cry " Abba Father," — in 
short, to frequent, in all the confidence and 
familiarity of children, the throne of Him in 
Heaven, whose footstool upon earth Israel was 
forbidden to approach. Never let us forget, 
never undervalue the glorious privilege, nor un- 
gratefully lose, in the freeness of the service, our 
just sense of the immutability of the obligation. 
On Christian, as well as Jew, the moral law is 
for ever binding ; and if in lieu of the bondage 
of Sinai, the '* easy yoke " of Christ has been 
substituted, it only renders the ungrateM trans- 
gressor more unpardonable. 

Let us analyse, my dear, this imperishable 
rule of duty from on high. How was it ushered 
in? 

Mary. " God spake all these words, who 
brought Israel out of the land of Egypt and house 
of bondage." 

Mama. Strong claims these on Jewish obe- 
dience and veneration I but in what higher spirit 
of commemoration are we to receive and obey 
them? 

Mary. As the words of Him who delivered 
us from the bondage of sin. 

Mama. Well answered, Mary, if your spir- 
Itual slavery has indeed been felt and deplored. 



- MORNING NINTH. 105 

If SO, how grateful will be your recognition of 
Him who achieved this everlasting ransom ! 
What is His first solenm injunction ? 

Mary. '< Thou shalt have none other Gods 
before me.*' That we are in no danger of break- 
ing now, Mama. 

Mama. Not literally perhaps : spiritually I 
fear very often ; for as in heathen times, it may 
be affirmed of many a human heart that there 
be in it '^ Gods many, and Lords many." Did 
you ever hear of a " Mammon" whom it is very 
possible for a Christian to worship ? 

Mary. Oh I yes, Mama ; and I fear it is 
true ; for our Lord says we cannot both worship 
him and God. 

Mama. Pray to that gracious Lord, my 
child, to cast out the " strong man armed," who 
keepeth too often the sanctuary within from its 
rightftil owner; and fill it with His own holy 
and undivided presence I Remember the '* prince 
of this world, who hath nought in Christ," yet 
who " ruleth in the children of disobedience," 
when you think yourself safe firom a breach of 
the first commandment I What is the second ? 

Mary. " Thou shalt not make any graven 
image," &c. This at least, Mama, we cannot do 
now, and no thanks to us I for we have no temp- 
tation to do it. 



IM 110RMI1«08 WITH MAMA. 

Mama* Not to make or bow down before 
JMi^gt oertainJ^ ; but there is an idolatry of the 
iMart, one of the oommonest as well as deadliest 
of olfeneea against God. To " make ** the hu- 
man idoli which so often supplant their Creator 
in our love, is indeed beyond our power ; but 
to ^* set up" and worship them, b what I fear 
all more or less must plead guilty to ; besides 
the homage daily extorted from us by base crea- 
tnreB of the imagination — ^fiune^ honour, fashion 
— 4luQgB as vain in themselves, yet exalted into 
as shameless rivalry with God, as the monster or 
insect deities of heathen antiquity. How does 
the third commandment enforce reverence to- 
wards the name and attributes of God ? 

Mart. *' Thou shalt not take the name of 
the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not 
hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." 

Mama. Are you ever thus guilty, Mary ? 

Mart. I should have said '< no " at once. 
Mama, but you make me think twice about every 
thing. 

Mama. From swearing and profanity, in its 
most flagrant and revolting sense, education and 
habit have certainly kept you free ; but you do 
nevertheless ^< take God*s name in vain" occasion- 
ally, as many older and wiser people unconscious- 
ly do. Did you never use " Lord bless me ! " 



MORNING NINTH* 107 

^< Good gracious!" and other even more direct 
appeals to the invisible God, on any trifling and 
frivolous occasions ? 

Mary. I am afraid I have. Mama; but 
since I find it forbid here, TU try and leave it off. 

Mama. Oh I my dearest child, would we 
only ^^ try and leave off," in the only name which 
can lend strength to our resolutions, all the prac- 
tices conscience tells us are contrary to Gtnl's 
law, what happy as well as holy creatures should 
we quickly become I May we be enabled to 
rise from the easy reformation of such idle habits 
as this, to more difficult and important branches 
of duty. The next commandment, I fear, must 
oblige all to smite on their breast, like the pub- 
lican, and say, ^ God be mercifril to us sinners.** 
How ihauld the Sabbaths of God be remember- 
ed? 

Mary. By ** keeping them holy." 

Mama. Yes, Mary ; and this is the main de- 
sign of the institution, to which the ^ rest" it 
graciously permits is merely subservient The 
*^rest" we are all (notorious Sabbath-breakers 
excepted) ready enough to enjoy ; but the ^' Ao- 
liness" Mary, what becomes of its universal and 
sweeping requisition ? Is a languid and heart- 
less attendance of a couple of hours at church 
(and how many with this begin and end their 



801 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

Sabbath " holiness ?") the required dedication of 
one day in seven to the God in " whose hand 
are," and might have remained, "a// our days?" 
But setting even our Creator and his claims aside, 
do we thus fulfil the gracious declaration of our 
Lord, that the " Sabbath was made for man ?" 
Made I and for what ? To lift one day in seven 
off his emancipated soul, the weight of this world's 
leaden atmosphere, which presses him down to 
earth, and clogs the wings of his immortal spirit, 
— ^to let in upon his prison-house some rays, 
though feeble and distant ones, of the heavenly 
light which can alone guide him through time, 
and will one day burst on him in eternity, — 
to let him breathe for a short and blessed in- 
terval that " breath of life" which a thousand 
noxious influences are ever at work to weaken, 
and, but for such seasonable " times of refresh- 
ing from the Lord," would infallibly extinguish. 
My dear Mary, let such be our Sabbath privi- 
leges and Sabbath enjoyments I " Holy let us 
be," (to borrow the words of Moses in his dying 
blessing on those who keep all God's command- 
ments,) " in the city, and in the field, and in our 
going out, and coming in," on this " day of the 
Lord ;" and " blessed" shall we no doubt be also, 
with the same comprehensive and irrevocable 
blessing. 



MORNING- NINTH. 109 

We have now gone through that first part — 
farsty remember, Mary, in precedence and im>» 
portance — of the moral law, which relates to our 
duty to God. That to our neighbour we must 
dismiss more briefly ; though without for a mo- 
ment overlooking the gracious result of its varioiift' 
wise and benign provisions — ^were they but par- 
tially observed — viz : " peace on earth and good- 
will to men." In this division of the law, it be- 
comes more than ever important to observe that 
every prohibition of sin implies the cultivation of 
the opposite temper. Murder, adultery, and steal- 
ing, are vices, abstinence from which, in your dasa 
of society, hardly amounts to virtue ; but not only 
^e the malice, levity, and covetousness from 
which these odious actions spring, to be diligent- 
ly searched for, and in God*s strength extirpated 
— but positive benevolence, sobriety, aoid liber- 
ality, as imperatively enjoined. " Cease to do- 
evil," and " learn to do well," are terms insepara- 
ble in Scripture. Were their connexion more 
attended to, mere negative fr^eedom from gross 
sins would not speak " peace where there is no* 
peace " to *' so many a deceived heart." But can 
even this be pleaded where the ninth command- 
ment is concerned ? How does it run ? 

Mary. " Thou shalt not bear false witness 
against thy neighbour." Mama, vi^t \«ka»^ x^snc^ 

L 



110 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

be called on to ^^ bear witness" at all, and I am 
sure if we were, we should speak truth. I saw a 
man sworn once, and it is so awful I 

Mama. Would to God that thousands who 
are sworn zxi6, forsworn every day, thought it so, 
my dear I But are you sure you are not of the 
number? You are sworn to God in your bap- 
tismal vow to ^< renounce the devil and all his 
works," of these we know falsehood to be the 
chief; and of the " lies," of which he is the " fa- 
ther," malicious, or even thoughtless ones, to our 
neighbours' prejudice, must ever rank highest. 
From these, my child, are any of us entirely free ? 
Have we never, in haste or passion, exaggerated 
or misrepresented a fellow-creature's conduct? 
Nay, have we never, in wanton levity of speech, 
repeated the slander it was our duty to have 
shamed into silence ? Till we can say this, we are 
" verily guilty concerning our brother," and must 
humbly pray for foi^iveness, and the cure of 
<' this evil also." The final commandment of the 
law, I fear, will find us equally fiiulty. What 
does it forbid ? 

Mary. Coveting our neighbours' goods. I 
tised to long for every thing I saw. Mama, but I 
hope I am not so silly now. 

Mama. Say so wicked, my dear, and you 
WiU apeak more truly. Advancing years have 



MORNING NINTH. Ill 

cured the folly, see that growing religion con- 
vinces you of the sin ! Covet no man's rank, for 
the " powers that be are of God," — ^nor his per- 
sonal advantages, for it is << God that maketh you 
to differ," — ^nor his talents, for << wisdom is not 
always to men of understanding ;" but, *< seek 
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, 
and all things " (really needfal) ^^ shall be added 
unto you T 



112 



MORNING TENTH. 

Lesson. — Exodus, Chapters xxxii. xxxiii. and xxxir. to 

ver. 10. 

Mary. Mama; why have you made me 
pass, in reading, from the 20th to the 32d chap- 
ter ? I suppose because what we left out was only 
about the Jews' particular laws and customs. 

Mama. Yes, my dear. We omitted these 
chapters, tjiat in compliance with your own re- 
quest, and for reasons in which I concurred, you 
might follow up the history of the chosen people 
of God, apart, for the present, from their peculiar 
institutions. And though it has not been with- 
out regret that I have deferred pointing out to 
you the many excellent general precepts of equi- 
ty and mercy, both to man and besu't, which suf- 
fice to lend permanent interest to the ritual ob- 
servances with which they are mixed up, yet I 
am reconciled to the omission by the advantage 
of presenting to you the last sad historical fact 
contained in the book of Exodus, the making of 
^he golden calf, in immediate connexion with the 



MOANING TENTH. 113 

awful solemnities of Sinai ; which no doubt would 
lead you or any one inexperienced in tl^e ^' de- 
ceitfulness" and *< desperate wickedness" of the 
human heart, to conclude idolatry ij^ the .witnesses 
of them impossible. Oh I the inconsistency and 
waywardness of man I One moment saying, '< Let 
not God speak with us lest we die," s^id ^^ all 
that the Lord hath said unto us we will do ;* and 
the next, pro&nely clamouring, ^< Up I make us 
gods I" And when fashioned before their eyes of 
their own eagerly sacrificed trinkets^ exclaiming, 
'^ These be thy gods, O Israel] which brought 
thee out of the land of Egypt I" What were the 
materials of this worse than childish object of 
worship ? 

Mary. The people's gold ear-rings, and you 
told me last year how they were melted down, 
to explain the meaning pf a '< molten image." 
Mama, I daresay these were just the jewels of 
gold which the Israelites <* borrowed" or asked 
of the Egyptians before they went away ; for I 
don't think slaves could have had any of their own. 
Mama. Very likely, Mary ; though I think 
you have the credit of the conjecture, which is 
somewhat ingenious. If such was the case, like 
many other objects of worldly desire, they were 
surely given them for their hurt ; and it had been 
better they had left Egypt in all the poverty of 



114 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

their original servitude. But to return to thid 
awiul transaction itself. How long a time had 
elapsed since the delivery of the law ? 

Mary. I don't know exactly. Not quite forty 
days though, for Moses only staid that time, and 
it was his not coming down that made them lose 
patience. 

Mama. Mary I how long did it take to ex- 
haust God's patience with them? Even forty 
years of constant rebellion smd distrust ; so *' dis- 
tant as east and west" are the compassions of 
Omnipotence from the caprices of finite mortals I 
But who, more inexcusable still th^i the people, 
lent a ready -ear to their impious proposal ? 

Mary. Aaron, Mama, Moses' own brother, 
and one who should surely have known better ! 

Mama. We all or most of us " know better" 
than we act, my dear, and it has been alleged 
in Aaron's exculpation, that the idolatry he con*- 
nived at, was merely in subordinatiOQ to the wor^ 
ship of Jehovah. But had he not heard that He 
was a ** jealous God ?" and surely his jealousy 

upon Egyp^ ^^^ h^f E^^^ -(^^ which the golden 
calf was a direct symbol) might have been fresh 
enough in his memory I There is something so 
senseless as well as wicked in the whole idea of 
ascribing to the guardian deity of Egypt, the ox, 
-the supposed honour of rescuing and avenging 



THOHNING TENTH. 115 

h€^r Oppressed bondmen, that we can only see in 
it one of those " strong delusions" which we 
know the *^ father of lies ** is able to practise on 
nations and individuals, deserted for their own 
iniquities, by the restraining grace of God. Do 
you recollect any other golden calves subse- 
quently made in Israel, under the same pretext 
of a visible representation of the true God ? 

Mary. Yes ; those set up by " Jeroboam the 
son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin." I re- 
member these awful words occurring an hundred 
times in our last years' reading. 

Mama. And do you remember tohi^ Jero- 
boam set up ^his prohibited 4mage-worsbip in 
rivalry of the temple of Jerusalem ? Just for the 
reason which caused the sinful compliance of 
Aaron, viz. fear of losing the authority which 
God had given him for a very different purpose. 
Jeroboam made his calves, lest the ten tribes, by 
worshipping at Jerusalem, should revert to their 
allegiance to the house of David; and Aaron, 
lest upon his refusal, the impatient people should 
choose another leader, and return to Egypt. 
Had both forgotten that He who exalted could 
maintain and defend them ? But, Mary, though 
Moses was absent, had not the Israelites all this 
time even visible tokens of the continued pre/- 
sence and favour of Jehovah? 



116 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

Mary. To be sure they had, Mama, though 
I did not think of them before, both the pillar of 
a cloud and the daily supply of manna. Really, 
all these things make them out worse and worse I 

Mama. And how did even a long-suffering 
God testify his sense of their outrageous ingrati- 
tude? 

Mart. Mama, he must have been very angry, 
for he calls them Moses's people, not His, and 
offers to consume them, and make of him <^ a 
great nation," instead. 

Mama. And did Moses accept this tempting 
proposal? 

Mary. Oh I no, he was too good a man. 

Mama. Yes, and the truly good are always 
disinterested, preferring the advantage and wel- 
£ure of their brethren to selfish aggrandizement. 
But was it for the sake of even his beloved coun- 
trymen that Moses chiefly besought God to par- 
don and bear witii them ? 

Mary. No, it was for God*9 own honour and 
^ory, lest the Egyptians should say. He had 
" brought them out for mischief;" and for the 
sake of his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Ja- 
cob. 

Mama. By whom had God sworn to those 
believing patriarchs that He would " multiply 
their seed as the stars of heaven," and settle them 
212 Canaan? 



fttORNINO TENTH. 117 

Mary. By Himself. 

Mama. So you see the vindication of that 
awful oath was still the chief motive, as well as 
ground of Moses's intercession. Oh I that we 
could imbibe from this distinguished servant of 
God, a portion of his genuine ^^ zeal for the Lord 
of Hosts I" How WAS it nobly recompensed ? 

Mary. " The Lord repented of the evil which 
He thought to do to his people ?" How could 
that be, Mama ? It says somewhere, " The Lord 
is not a man that he should repent." 

Mama. Well remembered, Mary, and the 
term is only used in condescension to our inca- 
pacity to measure otherwise than by remote hur 
man analogies the ways of. Omnipotence. But 
do you happen to remember of what it is com- 
passionately said, *' The Lord is not a man that 
He should repent?*' It is— -blessed be His name, 
as a God of mercy — His merciful purposes, which 
he is said in Scripture to be incapable of chang- 
ing ; while the same word of truth assures us 
more than once, that (in a sense to us necessarily 
myterious,) " He repented Him of the evil" his 
disobedient children had called down on their 
guilty heads. What proof have we in this very 
chapter, that fellow-mortals — even the meekest 
the world ever saw — are Jess jtolerant than their 
outraged Creator ? 



ilB ]\K)RNINOS WITH MAMA. 

Mary. Moses broke the tables of the law in 
his anger, " when he saw the calf and the dan- 
cing.*' • Mama, this was surely foolish. Suppose 
we should burn our Bibles because our neigh- 
bours are wicked 1 

Mama. ThcU would be foolish, indeed, Mary, 
because no motive for such wanton profeaation 
could be urged. But as Moses is never blamed 
for this symbolical action, expressive of his sense 
of the people's yet more irreparable breach of 
the divine law, we may conclude, a divine im- 
pulse, or permission at least, authorized it. But 
in what very different spirit did he destroy the 
idol which had been made in his absence ? 

Mary. He ground it in powder and strewed 
it on the water, and made the people drink it. 

Mama. Yes, Mary, and as the anlt^ water 
which relieved their thirst in a parching wilder- 
ness, flowed directly from the bounty of Grod, 
the allusion to their ingratitude must have made 
the draught doubly bitter and distastefiil. What 
did Moses accuse his brother of doing ? 

Mary. Of bringing sin upon the people. I 
thought it was they who brought it upon him. 

Mama. A strong censure on all those who 
abuse their authority or influence by even con- 
niving at the sins of those beneath them I Aaron, 
with the usual self-delusion, strove to excuse 



nORNlNO TENTH. 119 

himself because another individual, in all pro- 
bability, actually manufactured the calf. As if 
God, who sees the heart, could be appeased by 
such shallow sophistry I The suggestion of break- 
ing off their gold ornaments for this unworthy 
purpose, originated, (on his own confession,) 
with Aaron ; and on him has rested ever since, 
in strict justice, the odium of ^< making Israel to 
sin." 

Mart. Mama, what does it mean that << Aaron 
had made the people naked to their shame among 
their enemies ?" 

Mama. This passage is usually interpreted 
figuratively, as signifying the deserved with- 
drawal of the Divine protection ; but as most 
heathen rites, those of Egypt especially, mingled 
impurity with profaneness, there may be a literal 
as well as spiritual meaning in the expression. 
What confirms, however, its more awful and pri- 
mitive sense, is the catastrophe which followed 
hard on the sin of the Israelites. Did Grod, on 
this occasion, " encamp around and deliver" these 
rebellious idolaters? 

Mary. Oh! no, Mama! On the contrary, 
Moses ordered the Levites, in Grod's name, to 
" kill every man his brother, and companion, and 
neighbour," to the number of three thousand 
men. 



120 MORNINGS M'^ITH MAMA. 

Mama- And do you not shudder, my dear, 
to see, as the direct consequence of sin, such 
fearful abandonment of the offenders to the ven- 
geance, not of enemies, but of the sword of friends 
and relations ; whose reluctant execution of an 
outraged God's decree must have formed their 
own bitterest share of punishment? Repentance 
is at ail times a hard task, repugnant to flesh and 
blood, and delayed as such at the risk of the soul 
itself. Did you ever think what it must be to 
" return to God " at the expense of every tie 
of blood and friendship, — ^to " consecrate our- 
selves, " like the Levites, " every man upon his 
son and upon his brother ?** Pray God, my child, 
that in a different and far holier sense, we may 
all do so, by winning them by our counsel and 
example to the service of our God, to whom 
mercy is at all times more welcome thun sacri- 
fice! How did Moses renew his intercession 
when the bloody atonement required had been 
offered up ? 

Mary. He prayed to be " blotted out of 
God's book " rather than the people should not 
be forgiven. Mama I Was not this rather too 
much ? He surely could not wish to lose hea- 
ven even for his countrymen. 

Mama. No, my dear; even Christian charity 
does not require this, though for his " brethren 



MORNING TENTH. 121 

according to the flesh" an Apostle could " almost 
wish himself accursed." But the " blotting out" 
Moses speaks of, was of a temporal nature, and 
confined to the resignation of all his own earthly 
advantages, nay life itself, to purchase the par- 
don of his nation. This self-denying proposal 
God was too just to accept ; for we know, that 
with the exception of the atonement offered by- 
one " greater than Moses," no man, by even 
dying for another, can cancel a fraction of his 
guilt before God, How did He testify that his 
anger was not yet wholly appeased ? 

Mary. He said he would "yet visit theic 
sin upon them," and " he plagued them because 
of the golden calf." 

Mama. Yes, the consequences of our sins 
often long survive even their renunciation ; and 
I fear idolatry of some kind or other is too rootl- 
ed in the human heart to be ever thoroughly 
renounced. How does God, in the next chap- 
ter, manifest his remaining indignation against 
Israel ? 

Mary. He still calls them the people Moses 
brought out of Egypt, and says. He would not 
go with them, but only send an angel. 

Mama. And why ? 

Mary. Because the people were stiflP-necked, 
and lest God should consume them by tlv^'wj- 

• M 



122 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

Mama, Oh I Mary, let these awful words 
make us remember to whom << out God is a con- 
suming fire/' and tremble lest we also forfeit his 
protection, and incur his wrath I What effect 
had this humiliating announcement on the Is- 
raelites ? 

Mary, " They mourned, and no man did 
put on him his ornaments.*' 

Mama, Was there any thing peculiarly ap- 
propriate Aercin this latter symbol of mourning? 

Mary, I suppose you mean because it was 
the people's gold ornaments thatt they had given 
to make the calf. 

Mama. Exactly ; the first effect of genuine 
repentance is to make us loathe the occasions of 
sin. But indeed the sacrifice thus made was 
enjoined by Grod ; and (were we to read further 
at present) we should be delighted to find, in 
the account of the erection of the Tabernacle, 
that those instruments of past transgression were 
freely dedicated by a penitent people to the 
service of God for ever. This, and this only, is 
the test of genuine reformation ; and it is its 
own blessed reward. How different, my child, 
think you, were the feelings of the Israelites 
when drinking, at the bidding of Moses, the wa- 
ters embittered to them by the ashes of their 
shattered and contemptible idol — from the holy 



M0BNIN6 TENTH. 123 

satisfaction with which they must have adorned 
the sanctuary of a reconciled God with the free- 
will offerings of subdued and grateful hearts I 
By what striking change did God at this time 
manifest that He must be '^ sought of them'' who 
really wished to turn to Him ? 

Mart. Moses pitched the Tabernacle outside 
the camp, &r off ; and the congregation went 
out to it. 

Mama. Do you remember an allusion to this 
in the New Testament ? We are there bidden 
to " go out of the camp to Christ, bearing our 
reproach/' — to denote that separation from the 
mass of mankind of the true Israel of God — here 
first shadowed out, by a visible sign, to a gross 
and carnal people. The Tabernacle being thus 
removed from a camp polluted by idolatry, how 
was it again gloriously taken possession of by 
its heavenly tenant ? 

Mama. The cloudy pillar descended and 
stood at the door of it, and '^ the Lord talked 
with Moses as a man speaketh unto his friend." 

Mama. Glorious words ! my dear Mary, 
and, blessed be God! not confined to Moses, 
favoured as he was in the hearing of all Israel. 
There is, in the heart of every true Christian, 
a temple '* not made with hands," where a " Com- 
forter," unknown to holy men of old^ talks^ a& 



124 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

nivith a friend, to every sincere and penitent Ise- 
•liever. Is your tabernacle set up and ready, 
Mary ? is it beautified with all the early piety 
and humble obedience your years allow, to re- 
ceive Him who hath said, " Suffer little children 
to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of 
such is the kingdom of God ? " How did Moses 
testify his deep sense of the necessity of God^s 
abiding presence ? 

Mary, He said, " If thy presence go not 
%ip with us, carry us not up hence." 

Mama. And what was as usual his pious rea- 
son for this earnest stipulation ? 

Mary. That he and God's people might thus 
be " separated from -all the people that were on 
the face of the earth." 

Mama. Very well answered, and precisely 
to the point How did God receive this request ; 
as he does all those which have His glory, and 
spiritual privileges directly in view ? 

Mary. He said — " I will do this thing also, 
that thou hast spoken, for thou hast found grace 
In my sight." 

Mama. Strange I my dear, that the uniform 
Ailfilmcnt of religious petitions in Scripture, 
should not animate the most lukewarm to a like 
h^ly importunity I To what further remarkable 
fY^iifvr did it embolden Moses ? 



M0BN1N6 TENTH. 125 

Mary. " I beseech thee, show me thy glory." 
This was presumption in Moses, Mama, was it 
not ? He might have known no man could <^see 
God and live." 

Mama. It was rather, my dear, a remarkable 
instance of that intense aspiration after heavenly 
things, which even a partial enjoyment of them 
is sure to awaken in a pious soul — of a piece with 
the emotions of Peter on the mount of transfigu- 
ration, where, unwilling ever to forego again its 
exquisite glories, he exclaimed, '^Lordl It is 
good for us to be here I Let us make three ta- 
bernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and 
one for Elias I" How did God condescendingly 
comply with the possible part of Moses's petition? 

Mary. By making his <' goodness to pass be- 
fore him." 

Mama. Yes, Mary, that gracious portion of 
his attributes by which his glory is touchingly 
veiled to accommodate it to human apprehension. 
Let us ever remember, that it was in " showing 
mercy," God chose to prove Himself glorious to 
his highly &voured servant of old. And in the 
striking figure of the cleft of the rock, within 
which, sheltered by an omnipotent hand, Moses 
/ound refuge from the overwhelming, though par- 
tial prospect of the fulness of the Godhead, let 
,every Christian recognise the symbol of that 



126 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

" spiritual rock, even Christ," to which all must 
•ilee, who would sustain unconsumed, either m 
-time or eternity, the ineffable splendours of the 
Divine presence. 

Let us conclude our review of this book of the 
'history of the Israelites by the recital of the new 
'and benignant titles, under which, on the repub- 
lication of his insulted law, God was pleased 
-most appropriately to make Himself known. No 
■comments of man can add to their force and 
'Solemnity, and with them we will take our leave 
of the Book of Exodus, praying that they may 
be engraved alike on our hea^rts and memories. 
"The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, 
long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and 
truth. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving 
iniquity, transgression, and sin, and that will by 
no means clear the guilty." 

Couple these immutable declarations of " Him 
who cannot lie," my dear child, with the lost 
state of the world in general, and your own in 
particular, and admire in the dust, the plan of 
redemption by whieh the former and latter parts 
of them have been made to agree, and '* mercy 
and truth to embrace each other" in the sacri- 
fice of Christ ! 



127 



MORNING ELEVENTH. 

Lesson. — Numbers, Chapters xi. and xii. 

Mary. So, Mama I we have passed over I 
tlon't know how many chapters of Exodus, and 
got into the middle of a new book I Why so ? 

Mama, For your own alleged reason, that 
the chapters omitted consist chiefly, though not 
exclusively, of those laws, and ceremonies, and 
local regulations of the Jews, which you objected 
to as confusing and interrupting your former per- 
usal of their history. Your age and incapacity 
to enter as yet into the admirable adaptation of 
these Divine ordinances to the condition of the 
Jews, and God's designs on that singular people, 
induce me to defer pointing them out at present. 
I shall only generally repeat, that while the vast 
superiority of the Jewish laws to those of every 
other nation, prove their Divine origin — their 
uu designing intermixture with the historical 
f^ vents we find difficulty in separating from them 
— is a no less unanswerable proof of their being 
as old as Moses, and the words of inspiration. 



128 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

Tliis book of Numbers, as its name imports, 
especially records the " order of the tribes," their 
genealogies and numerical strength, as well as 
their respective contributions to the erecting of 
the Tabernacle ; minute points, in which, though 
highly interesting to a Jew, we are comparatively 
unconcerned. But the last of the chapters omit- 
ted contains, at its close, two such interesting 
particulars, that we must turn back (though late) 
to collect them. Read from the 28th verse of 
the 10th chapter, and remark the spiritual as 
well as friendly tenor of Moses's invitation to 
Hobab, his brother-in-law, to cast in his lot with 
the people of God. Whither did he say they 
were journeying ? 

Mary. To the place which God was to give 
them. 

Mama. The strong language of assured faith ! 
as in what follows we recognise that of true 
benevolence, " Come with us, and we will do 
thee good." Let us adopt it, Mary, whenever 
we see lingering beyond the pale of the Chrisr 
tian's blessed '' land of promise" those to whom, 
by inviting them within it, we can do unmixed 
and everlasting good. If the ^' Lord hath spokei^ 
good concerning Israel " of old, more surely are 
enduring blessings in store for those who, leaving 
father and mother, if needful, " seek a better 



MORNING ELEVENTH. 129 

country, even an heavenly." Did Hobab at once 
comply with the invitation ? 

Mary. No, Mama ; but he must have been 
a kind person, for he agreed to stay when Moses 
told him he could be of great use to them. 

Mama. Yes ; and this mere absence of setf- 
ishness had its temporal reward in his share in 
the future prosperity of Israel. But why was 
the company of this Arab -so useful in the desert ? 

Mary. I have read in traveb that Arab 
guides are still taken to show strangers the wells, 
and keep them from losing their way. But did 
iiot God teach the Israelites their's, and go be- 
fore them, which was much better ? 

Mama. Yes, Mary; but we nowhere find 
Divine Providence superseding human endea- 
vours ; and while we know the main body of 
I&rael to be under direct supernatural guidance, 
detached parties were often sent out for parti- 
cular purposes ; and in many ways the experience 
of Hobab might contribute, as at this day, to the 
comfort of wayfeirers in the desert. God only 
gave water miraculously, when natural supplies 
failed; and with these the shepherd prince of 
Midian would be well acquainted, and his name 
and presence a check on his marauding country- 
men. But lest we should for a moment suppose 
an " arm of flesh *' to be invoked by M.q««^ ve^ 



130 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

disparagement of IsraeFs true strength and rock, 
read me his beautiful morning invocation when 
the ark of God's presence " set forward." 

Mart. " Rise up, Lord I and let thine ene- 
mies be scattered, and let them that hate thee 
flee before thee." 

And when it rested, he said, << Return, O Lord, 
unto the many thousands of IsraeL" 

Mama. Sublime words these, Mary, and 
worthy of His Spirit by whom alone such prayers 
can be dictated I But we must come back to our 
chapters ; and how humbling is it to find, that 
a people thus miraculously encompassed and 
guided " complained I" The nature of their dis- 
content at this time is not mentioned ; but sinful 
we are sure it was, from its signal punishment. 
How did God testify his anger ? 

Mary. " The fire of the Lord consumed all 
them that were in the uttermost parts of the 
camp." 

Mama. Some have supposed that the pillar 
of fire — that symbol of the Divine presence 
which their "complaints" insulted, was made 
the instrument of their chastisement — others that 
the hot desert wind, (likened by Arab writers to 
the " angel of vengeance") swept off the guilty 
stragglers who lingered farthest from their '< ark 
of refuge,'' This wind we ja^ told once occa- 



MORNING ELEVENTH. 131 

sioned the death of 20,000 men. Certain it is 
that great armies and numerous caravans have 
fallen victims to its fiery breath, even when un- 
directed so visibly by the unerring vengeance of 
Jehovah. At whose prayer was it withdrawn ? 

Mary. Oh ! Moses's, he never could bear to 
see the people punished. But, Mama, they were 
really too bad I They wept directly after, like 
children, for " flesh and leeks and onions." I 
wonder they were not ashamed. 

Mama. Instead of wondering, as we are all 
apt to do, at the shameful inconsistency of the 
Jews, let us rather humbly acknowledge that of 
human nature. The history [of the Jews is a 
mirror in which every wayward individual among 
ourselves may << behold, as in a glass," the dis- 
trust, and discontent, and self-will, and rebellion, 
which mark, more or less, the conduct of every 
sojourner in this world's wilderness. Were the 
Israelites singular, think you, in preferring the 
slavish " flesh-pots of Egypt " to the wholesome 
privations of their journey Zionward ? Alas ! 
no. We too " murmur " at the discipline which 
would school us for Heaven, and we too have our 
sinful wishes granted to our hurt The Jews 
loathed their " bread from Heaven." How of^B 
do we cast away our's for some perishable 
" gourd," more contemptible still than tke " l^<^k& 



132 MOBNINGS WITH MAMA. 

and onions " of the carnal Israelites ! Whose faith 
and patience nearly sunk under this bitter trial 
of a nation's upbraidings ? 

Mary. Poor Moses ; he prayed to be " killed 
out of hand'' rather than '< bear all this people 
alone." 

Mama. And how did a gracious God lighten 
the burden ? 

Mary, He appointed seventy elders to share 
it with him. 

Mama. Was this appointment merely tem- 
porary, or did it continue to after-ages ? 

Mary. I don't know. 

Mama. Did you never read in the New Tes- 
tament of the Seventy, or Sanhedrim, the great 
council of the Jews, which is supposed to date 
from this period. Before entering on the mira- 
cle of quails, to which their appointment was 
preparatory, let us finish the account of their or- 
dination. Where did they attend by God's com- 
mand? 

Mary. At the Tabernacle, outside the camp^ 
you know. 

Mama. In token of sacred separation from 
a sinful multitude. And how did the Lord gra- 
ciously fit them for their important office ? 

Mary. He " put his Spirit upon them^ and 
they prophesied." 



MORNING EL£:VBNTH. 133 

Mama. We formerly read much about pro- 
phets, what did we say they were ? 

Mary. Men whom God enables to foretel 
what is to eome. 

Mama. Yea, Mary, that is the primary mean- 
ing of the word, but not its only one. Our Lord 
himself is called our " Prophet ;" and foretelling 
the future was the least of bi» great benefits to 
mankind. 

Mary. It must mean a Teacher, also, Mama; 
one who reyeals- God's will to us. 

Mama. It does^ and in a third or lower sense, 
it signifies in the Bible one supematurally inspi- 
red to praise and glorify God. Such seems to 
have been the gift of prophecy here, and also on 
that memorable occasion when it was asked of 
a hitherto idle and undistinguished youth, << Is 
Saul also among the prophets ?'* But was this 
great though subordinate privilege confined to 
those of the Seventy who went out to the Taber- 
nacle ? 

Mary. No, Mama, there were two who staid 
in the camp, and they " prophesied too." 

Mama. A clear proof that their abstinence 
from public attendance was justifiable and not 
sinful ; and a corroboration of our Christian 
axiom, that God is not confined to " temples 
made with hands," but present in his retirement 

N 



134 moAninos w^ith mama. 

with every sincere and conscientious worshipper. 
Who " envied, for Moses's sake," this distinguish- 
ed privilege? 

Mary. Joshua, the young man who always 
waited on Moses. 

Mama. And how did his meek master rebuke 
him? 

Mary. « Would God that all the Lord's 
people were prophets, and that the Lord would 
put his Spirit among them I" 

Mama. Let such be our ardent aspirings, 
Mary, that the " knowledge of God may fill the 
earth, as the Waters cover the sea I" How was 
the miracle predicted in the former part of this 
chapter now Accomplished ? 

Mary. God sent forth a wind, and brought 
quails in quantities from the sea, and let them 
iall all round the camp. Mama I what a very 
strange way of giving the people flesh 1 where 
did they all come from ? 

Mama. Being birds of passage, and in great 
numbers in southern countries, there is no diffi- 
culty in supposing (were it necessary) that the 
" wind " sent by the Almighty could direct their 
migrating thousands, for this special purpose, to 
the camp of Israel; especially as in parts of Ame- 
rica at this day, flocks, or rather cloutds of pigeons, 
past all human computation, settle periodically 



IttORNING ELEVENTH. 135 

on given i^ots, till the air is darkened, and the 
earth is encumbered with their carcases ; and the 
hundreds of people who flock to the annual 
slaughter, are wearied knocking down with sticks 
their exhausted senseless prey. This curious 
phenomencm has never yet been explained ; and 
till it is, we may save ourselves the trouble of ac- 
counting for a miracle. I only know, that read- 
ing modem travellers' descriptions of this flight 
and carnage of pigeons, helped me, (as many mo- 
dem narratives do,) to take in the number and 
slaughter of the quails in opr chapter. How 
long did God promise that the people should be 
thus miraculously fed ? 

Mary. " A whole month," Mama; but it 
only says here, they gathered two dayv and a^ 
night. 

Mama. I wanted to see if you would observe 
this. How was this sudden supply rendered per- 
manent ? 

Mary. ^^ They spread them abroad all round 
the camp;" but surely, Mamma, in so hot a 
country they would spoil. 

Mama. No, my dear ; exactly because it is 
so very hot a^d dry, mere exposure to sun and 
wind will in those countries preserve flesh for a 
long time. Sopietimes it is buried by the Arabs 



136 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

in the buraing sand — sometimes only hung at 
their saddle-bow ; but if moisture is excluded, it 
will keep weeks if necessary. Yet I daresay the 
offals, and less carefully preserved remnants of 
their unholy excess, were made God*s instruments 
in producing the pestilence which followed. How 
soon did it visit this carnal and sinful people ? 

Mary. " While the flesh was yet within their 
teeth," Mama, so their enjoyment of it was not 
long. 

Mama. Long^ in proportion by far, my dear 
Mary, and less to be despised in comparison — 
than the snatches of base earthly gratification, 
for which thousands forfeit their hopes of eternity. 
We .call them fools, and justly I Let us beware 
lest they have cause to retort ithe clmrge, when 
they see us shut out like themselves from the 
Canaan above. Three short days did those "eat 
flesh " and perish in the wilderness, who might 
have spent long lives of sanctified prosperity in 
Oanaan, had they but once believed, and trusted 
in God. 

Mary. Mama ! surely Moses was the worst 
lised man that ever lived. In the next chapter 
his very brother and sister " spoke against him." 

Mama. And on what account, my dear ? 

JMARYb On account of his Ethiopian wife. I 



MORNING ELEVENTH. 137 

remember you said at the time it was wrong in 
bim to many her. 

Mama. Not exactly, Mary, — I only pointed 
out a remarkable iBs|;ance in which this heathen 
connexion endangered his life ; and we have now 
another, in which it exposed him to domestic un- 
happiness, and brought sin and disgrace into his 
family. 

Mahy. But God was angry with Miriam and 
Aaron about it. 

Mama. Yes, Mary, because (whatever might 
be the pretext of their rebellion,) it was founded 
on pride, — -which He delights in humbling — and 
outraged His authority, which He is sworn to 
uphold. Miriam, who, we may remember, led in 
a very different spirit the praises of the women 
on the passage of the Red Sea,^ — ^probably resent- 
ed the loss of her consequence since Jethro had 
brought his daughter to ahare with her husband 
Moses, the respect of Israel. But that was no 
reason why she should exalt herself to an equalip 
ty with Moses himself, and lead on Aaron to par- 
take her guilt ; which we must suppose her to 
have done, as she alone was punished. How was 
her sinful pride appropriately humbled ? 

Mary. |She became " leprous, white as snow." 
I know that was a great disgrace. Mama, no one 
.could keep company with her. 



138 MOtlNINOS WITH MAMA. 

Mama. Yes, Mary,— when inclined to be 
proud, and resist those whom God has put over 
you, — ^think of Miriam, the great prophetess of 
Israel, shut out ignominiously from the camp, in 
a state of loathsome disease ; from which she was 
only relie¥ed at the prayer of him whom she had 
insulted in the tenderest point. What a triumph 
for the meek Moses, that the malice of rebels 
should only draw from God the most signal tes- 
timonies He had yet given of favour towards His 
servcmt I What text of the New Testament does 
this remarkably confirm ? 

Mary. ^^ He that exalteth himself shall be 
abased ; but he that humbleth himself shall be 
exalted." 

Mama. Very well remembered. 

Mary. But, Mama, why is it said here— ^" K 
her father had only spit in her face," &c. I don't 
understand the expression. 

Mama. I daresay not ; it is a strong Jewish 
figure to mark parental contempt and displeasure. 
Spitting on, or even near any one, is a great af- 
front in eastern countries, and the supposition of 
such conduct in a parent is expressive of almost 
unpardonable crime in the child who called it 
forth. It is here used to prove God's sense of 
the guilt .of Miriam. 

Let us beware, Mary, lest wc give our earth- 



MORNINO ELEVENTH. 139 

ly, and far more our heavenly Parent, cause thus 
to spurn and disown us. There are errors in 
women, which not only shut them hopelessly out 
of the pale of society on earth, but (unless 
deeply repented) from that of acceptance in hea- 
ven. Of all such, pride and vanity are the foun- 
dation ; and the earliest way in which these can 
show themselves, is in contempt of our elders 
and betters. Let all women, instead of vain con- 
tentions for superiority and idle outward << adorn- 
ings," which end too often in shame, *^ put on 
the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which 
in the sight of God is of great price.'' 



140 



MORNING TWELFTH. 

Lesson.— Numbers, Chapters xiii. and zlv* 

Mama, We have, my dear duld, in the ber 
ginning of the first of these chapters, (containing 
so melancholy a record of human despondency 
and want of faith in God) a fresh instance of 
gracious condescensipn on the part of Him << who 
knew what was in man." For though it is said 
here, that the command to send out men to search 
the land of Canaan (on whose jconfines the people 
had now arrived) proceeded from God, yet 
Moses, in his recapitulation of the history in 
Deuteronomy appeals to themselves, whether 
their own sinful distrust and timidity did not 
first suggest the proposal. 

Moses, in the strength of his God, and " full 
assurance of faith,'' bade them '* go up and possess 
the good land,'' to whose threshold they had now, 
under his banner, so triumphantly advanced ; but 
the people, always so bold in disobedience and 
;reb,ellion, were ever disposed, ^h/ei^ urged in the 



MORNING TWELFTH. 141 

path of duty, to say with the sluggard — " There 
is a lion in the way I" and it was in this spirit 
that the idea of sending out spies was conceiv- 
ed. The compliance with it of God and Moses 
must not blind us to its sinful origin, or its fatal 
consequences, in ^filling up the measure of that 
rebellion which finally excluded the whole ge- 
neration that came up out of E^rpt from the 
land of promise their incredulity had forfeited. 

How many men were sent out on this expedi- 
tion ? 

Mary. Twelve, Mama; one out of every 
tribe. Why did Moses change " Oshea the son 
of Nun's name into Jehoshua ? " 

Mama. To give him one which among the 
Jews was the same as " Jesus," (by which last 
indeed he is expressly called in many parts of the 
New Testament,) in testimony of his being the 
earthly "Saviour," (which the word signifies,) 
who was to bring the Israelites triumphantly 
into Canaan ; and as such, a type of the greater 
Deliverer who was to conquer for Christians a 
" more enduring inheritance." Moses in this 
change must have acted under the influence of 
God's prophetic Spirit; as his own forfeiture, 
by disobedience, of the Leader's office, had not 
yet occurred. 

Ma n y. Mama, the bunch of grapes which re- 



142 MOBNINGS WITH MAMA. 

quired to be carried between two men, must sure-r 
ly have been miraculous I none grow naturally 
80 large, do thay ? 

Mama. It is not necessary to suppose that its 
size alone occasioned a mode of conveyance well 
calculated to preserve it from being bruised and 
injured. But n^any ancient authors agree in repre- 
senting the grapes of Mount Lebanon and the ad- 
joining regions as prodigiously large. Some say 
the bunches were two cubits long-— others, the vines 
so thick that two men coi^d scarce compass them ; 
and modem travellers have been astonished at 
the size of the single grapes, comparing them to a 
prune. This would strike ike Israelites the more, 
as those of Egypt, we are told, were very small. 
iNow tell me how maby days were employed in 
this search, that we may observe its connexion 
with the sequel. 

Mary. Forty, Mama. And some of the men 
gave an excellent account of the land, and said it 
was just what God had promised ; and showed 
them the very fruit I How foolish, as well as 
wicked they were, not to go and take it I 

Mama. True, Mary. But what hindered 
them? 

M^RY. Oh ! the strength of the people, and 
their " gre^t walled cities," ^nd the " children of 



MOHNtNG T\1^LJ*TH. 143 

Anak." Were they really giants, Mama, or did 
these cowardly creatures only suppose so ? 

Mama. We have no reason for doubting the 
extraordinary stature of some among the Canaan- 
ites, from what we read in Scripture of Og and 
Goliath, and others. But did their preternatural 
strength and size enable them to contend success- 
fully with God ? 

Mary. O ! no. Goliath, for all his size, was 
killed with a stone by a shepherd boy. But 
there are no giants now. Mama, are there ? 

Mama. None, Mary, I believe, in the natural 
world, notwithstanding some doubtful relations 
of modem navigators. But if we look within, 
and question our own hearts, we shall find that 
the "strong man armed" who keeps them from 
God, still paralyses, like the " Anakim" of the 
slothful Israelites, our efforts to dislodge him. 
" We be not able to go up against him," whisper 
doubt, and insincerity, and love of ease. But 
what said virtuous Caleb in the strength of his 
God, and what should every Christian, in the 
power of his Redeemer, humbly reply to such 
fatal suggestions, that would rob him of his hea- 
venly prize? "Let us go up and possess it, 
for we are well able to overcome it !" 

There is one remaricable feature 0/ the " evil 
report" of the treacherous spies, which will be 



144 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

equally found to pervade all the insinuations of 
scoffers against religion, viz. that independently 
of the undoubted exaggeration regarding giants, 
it was utterly untrue I " It is a land** (said they) 
<< that eateth up the inhabitants thereof/* mean- 
ing one poor, and barren, and unwholesome. 
Did this tally with what we know of the remark- 
able fertility of the earthly Canaan, or with the 
noble specimen of its fruits, which might have 
put the very gainsayers to silence ? 

Mary. No, Mama. I wonder the people 
could listen to them, in the fece of it 

Mama. Let us beware, Mary, how we listen 
to disparaging accounts of the blessings and sub- 
stantial advantages of religion. Men of undoubt- 
ed veracity, prophets> apostles, and martyrs, have 
"searched out** for us this privileged country, 
braved its surrounding perils, and made their 
way at length << through much tribulation'* to its 
happy ^ores. Is the report they have left us, 
and sealed too with their blood, an " evil one ?** 
or is it not, rather, like that of faithful Joshua, 
" The land which we passed through to search it, 
is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight 
In you, He will bring you into this land and give 
it you I** Such, Mary, is the uniform testimony 
of the " excellent of the earth'* as to the joys and 
advantages of Christ's kingdom, as contrasted 



MORNING TWELFTH. 145 

with the wilderness without Can we believe it, 
and not say at once as the Israelites did when it 
was too late — " Lo I we be here I and will go up 
unto the place which the Lord hath promised ?" 

But to return to the Israelites. How did their 
belief in the unworthy rumours of the majority 
of the spies display itself? 

Mary. Oh I as usual, they cried and wept 
like children, and said, " Would God they had 
died in 'Egypt^ or in the wilderness I" 

Mama. Stop, Mary, was any part of this 
most sinful wish granted ? 

Mary. Yes, the latter part ; they did all die 
in the wilderness. 

Mama. I wished to see if you observed the 
connexion — here more immediately visible than 
usual — between a state of determined impenitent 
guilt, and its inevitable punishment We think 
the Israelites incredibly foolish as well as sinful, 
for invoking on their heads, in preference to his 
promises, the vengeance of an insulted God. 
Let us pray to Him to keep us from a choice 
more preposterous still, viz. that of eternal death, 
when life everlasting is the blessed alternative. 

Mary. God forbid we should. Mama. But 
the Israelites wanted to make a captain, and re- 
turn to Egypt Did they think God would guide 

o 



146 MOBNINGS WITH MAMA. 

tliem hack, and give thefta maBaa, and water, and 
aO» to rebel against him ? 

Mama, i suppose they did, Mary, ^ as he 
sendeth rain on the just and unjust, and maketh 
his sun to rise on the evil and uathankftd," among 
ourselves. But strange, and never to be enough 
admired forbearance of God ! we do not fi(Bd that 
temporal sustenance was withheld from even that 
perverse and incorrigible people^ whom he eoBi-> 
manded (instead of permitting) to retrace their 
steps from the confines of plenty and freedom, 
to the very threshold of their coveted '< house of 
bondage.'' Miracles of mercy continued to attest 
God's power, if not his favour to his people ; for 
what says Moses of this very period of destitution 
of God'a ^iritual presence ? ^ Thy foot did not 
swell, nor thy raiment wax old, for forty years ;" 
ao miraculously did God even ^ im judgment, re- 
member mercy I" 

How did Moses and Aaron, and th^ two faith- 
ful £^ies, tvy to work oik th^e better feelings of 
their countvywien? 

Mary. ^ They fell on their feces before 
them," — oh ! Mama, how could they stand that ? 
— and begged them not to rebel against God, and 
tokl them not to fear the people of the iapd, be- 
cause the Lord was with them. 



MORNING TWELFTH. 147 

Mama. And wliat was the requital of this 
benevolent importunity ? 

Mary. " They bade stone them with stones I" 

Mama. Methinks Moses at least might id- 
most without blasphemy hare applied to himself 
the words of our blessed Lord, when similarly 
threatened, << Many good works have I wrought 
among you, for which of them do ye stone me 7'* 
But how were tiiese courageous servants of God 
more efiectually vindicated ? 

Mary* The glory of the Lord appeared in 
their behalf, and God said, " How long will this 
people provoke me ?'* and He offered again to 
cut them off, and make a great nation of Moses. 

Mama. Which Moses, as formerly, declined ; 
partly from lingering love for his brethren, but 
chiefly, as before, from that paramount regard for 
the glory and renown of Jehovah, which Christ^ 
ians would do well to make, like him, the govern- 
ing principle of their lives I How delicately and 
skilfully does he recall God's own gracious cha^ 
racter of Himself as '< l<mgH9uffering, and of great 
mercy," to incline him once more to foi^ive " ini- 
quity and transgression I" But let us observe, 
Mary, how, even when remitting, at Moses' en- 
treaty, the threatened cutting off of the naticm 
by pestilence — ^the Lord vindicates his honour, 



148 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

in the prolonged punishment, and final exclusion 
from Canaan, of all those men who had seen His 
glory and miracles, and ten times provoked Him 
by their ungrateftil rebellion. Not one of them 
was to << see the land which He sware unto their 
fathers," — " their carcases were to fall in the wil- 
derness,'' and their unhappy children were to be 
visited for their fathers* sins, by forty years* delay 
in possessing their well nigh forfeited inheritance. 
Let this awful decree convince us, Mary, that 
" God is not mocked," nor his promises under- 
valued with impunity, — nor let the measure of 
temporal forbearance, or even prosperity enjoyed 
by despisers, ever blind us to their ultimate and 
in^ible doom beyond the grave. As surely as 
no grown man who disbelieved God in the wil- 
derness should go over Jordan, and taste of the 
plenty of Canaan — shall no scoffer who denies or 
neglects the Gospel, ever cross the " great gulf" 
which is « fixed " between them, who, by their 
sentiments and practices, have " made God a 
liar," and those, who, believing " the truth as it 
is in Jesus," have " a right to the water and tree 
of life." 

Were there any exceptions to God's awful 
doom of exclusion ? 

Mary. Yes, Caleb and Joshua. They were 



MORNING TWELFTH. 149 

to go into the promised land at the end of the 
forty years, and they " lived still" when God cut 
off by the plague the ten other spies. 

Mama. From which signal instance of ven- 
geance on the chief offenders, we may learn how 
peculiar is the guilt of those, who, by word or ex- 
ample, lead others into sin. In the fabehood and 
cowardice of the spies lay the whole root of 
Israel's transgression, and justly were they made 
exceptions from the nation's reprieve. How long 
were these respited offenders to wander, a joint 
monument of God's anger and mercy, in the wil- 
derness ? 

Mary. Forty years. Mama ; a year for every 
day that they had searched the land. 

Mama. From this as well as many parts of 
Scripture we may gather a correspondence, to 
u^ as yet mysterious, between guilt and its mea- 
sure of punishment ; and though we know that 
the sufferings of eternity will bear to the sins of 
time a proportion frightfully exceeding that of 
years to days in the chast]^ement of Israel, yet 
the one may serve to remind us of the other, and ' 
make us hesitate to purchase even years of 
misery, by moments, at best, of sinful indul- 
gence. 

One circumstance more is recorded for our 



150 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

edification in the chapters we have read. Did 
the Israelites humbly acquiesce in the mitigated 
sentence of their Divine lawgiver ? 

Mary. No, no ; they wanted to go forward 
and fight now, when God had forbidden them. 

Mama. And with what success did they in- 
sult Him by a mock semblance of obedience ? 

Mary. Oh I they were beaten by the Ama- 
lekites and Canaanites, just as they had said they 
should be. 

Mama. And why ? 

Mary. Because the ark of God, and Moses, 
never went out of the camp, and God was " not 
among them.'* 

Mama. My dear Mary, this is not the least 
striking of those symbolical events which an 
apostle tells us " are written unto us for ensam- 
ples I" As surely as the Israelites going forth in 
their own strength, and neglectfiil, nay forsaken 
of God, had their presumption rebuked by falling 
before their temporal enemies — shall we, for whom 
armour of proof is provided in the Gospel, and a 
banner set up there, which to follow is certain 
conquest, be utterly discomfited, in the unau- 
thorized and unhallowed struggle which some 
vainly pretend to maintain with the corruptions 
of nature, and assaults of the powers of darkness I 



MOBNINO TWELFTH. 151 

Apart from God and his ark, the Israelites (like 
Samson when sin had robbed him of his sym- 
bolical strength) were powerless ; and so is every 
Christian who has not said with St. Paul, " I 
can do all things through Christ who strength- 
eneth me ;" " and the life I now lead in the flesh 
I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved 
me, and gave himself for me." 



152 



MORNING THIRTEENTH. 



Lesson. — Numbers, Chapters xv. (from verse 32), xvi. 

and xvii. 



Mama. Our reading to-day, my dear Mary, 
has been throughout of an unusually painful and 
appalling character, consisting almost wholly of 
the recorded judgments of God on offenders, ob- 
stinate and impenitent indeed, but << men of like 
passions with ourselves,** and, as such, objects of 
unconscious and not unnatural sympathy. I 
knew from your grave countenance and pitying 
tone while reading, that thoughts were passing 
through your young mind, which, if they did not 
exactly dare to question, led you to wonder at 
the severity manifested in these Divine dispen- 
sations ; and as the sure result of every careful 
examination of them is, (as our great poet says,) 
to " vindicate the ways of God to man," — I shall 
be glad to hear how they struck you, before using 



MOBNINO THIRTEENTH. 153 

my humble endeavours to put them in a proper 
light. 

Mary. Mama, I did think it a little hard that 
the man should be stoned to death for gathering 
a few sticks on a Sunday. You said the other 
day, out of the Bible, that it was <^ made for 
man.'' 

Mama. Yes, my dear, but surely not for 
man to disobey his Creator on. I observe habit 
has made you talk of " Sunday" as applied to 
the Jewish Sabbath ; were they the same ? 

Mary. No, no, I forgot. The Jews kept 
the seventh day, because God rested on it from 
his work ; but we keep the first instead, because 
Christ rose upon it from the dead. 

Mama. Very well remembered. But is this 
the only difference between the two Sabbaths ? 

Mary. I don't know — only people are not 
put to death now for doing worse things than 
gathering sticks. 

Mama. In this answer, my dear, you have 
unconsciously comprised what I was going to 
remark as the leading difierence of all the insti- 
tutions of the law, as contrasted with their Gos- 
pel counterparts. The law ran ever — " do this 
and live ;" transgress and die. The Sabbath of 
the Jews was a positive enactment of their law, 
and as such, enforced by temporal penalties. 



154 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

The Christian Sabbath is, uo doubt, of at leftgt 
equally binding obligation ; but it is likewitte^ as 
we said lately, a blessed privilege — the forfeiture 
of which is its own worst penalty here,*>-aiid 
which, in the new and better dispensation we live 
under, will have its abuse visited, not by tbe 
brief vengeance of an earthly magistrate, but by 
the everlasting displeasure of our heavenly Bene- 
factor* But to satisfy you that even under a 
sterner rule of duty, God " in judgment remem- 
bered mercy," turn back to the 27th verse of th^ 
Idth chapter, and see what a gracious provision 
is there made for sins of ignorctnce / Not only 
is it mercifully said, that such ^< shall be foi^ven," 
— not only is their atonement condescendingly 
pointed out, — but, with the spirit of benevolence 
which I shall ere long show you runs through 
all the law of Moses, are that class of people spe- 
cially included who were most likely tgnoran$iy 
to transgress, viz. the "strangers," who dwelt 
among the Israelites — ^the "mixed multitude," 
who, you remember, accompanied them from 
Egypt Do you not think, after all this warning, 
that God had a right to say, " The soul that ^ 
sinneth presumptuously reproacheth the Lord T 
Because he hath despised the word of the Lord, 
that soul shall be utterly cut off — his iniquity 
shall be upon him ?" Remember, Mary, it was 



MORNING THIBTBENTH. 155 

not for '^ gatheriBg sticks^" but for despising 
God*s commandment, that the Sabbath-breaker 
in the wihleniess suffered death ; and also that 
this wholesome severity probably saved hundreds 
from the guilt of Sabbath-breaking on earth, and 
its more awful penalties beyond the grave. 

Mary. I see, Mama, it was Ibolish in me to 
think God could be too strict with any one ; but 
I could not help being sorry too, for the poor 
wives and little ones of Korab, Dathan, and 
Abiram, when the earth opened and swallowed 
them up. 

Mama. My dear child, when you have lived 
a little longer in the world, you will see that 
imiocent children daily suffer^ in ways as certain, 
though not so palpable, for the sms and follies of 
their wicked parents.. But you will be glad to 
hear that learned men have found reason to hope^ 
OB careful investigation of the history, that one 
at least of these devoted femilies, escaped the 
fate of its preauiBptuous head. To understand 
tkeir grounds for this, and strengthen our sense 
of the divine justice, as well as majesty, we had 
better trace this whole miquitous rebellion to its 
corrupt fountain^^-the pride which lost the angels 
heaven, and our forst parents paradise. Who 
was its impious leader Korah ? 



156 MOBNINGS WITH MAMA. 

Mary. " The son of Izhar, the son of Ko, 
hath, the son of Levi/* 

Mama. .Yes, and cousin-german to Moses 
and Aaron — a circumstance which, while it deep- 
ened his guilt, was probably its chief occasion. 

Mary. How so ? I thought all the sons of 
Levi were made holy to God. 

Mama. They were so ; and don't you see 
that very holiness brought forward by Korah as 
a plea for equality with his more highly favoured 
kinsmen ? He is not the first or last who has 
thus abused privileges to his own destruction ; 
and the one assigned to the family of Kohath, 
(as next to that of Aaron), of carrying the ark 
and Holy of holies, was probably at the bottom 
of his whole attempted usurpation of the priestly 
office. Indeed Moses expressly hints at this, 
when reproaching Korah with what chiefly 
grieved him in the whole transaction, viz. its deep 
ingratitude to the God who had thus distinguish- 
ed them both. What says he at the 9th verse ? 

Mary. " Seemeth it but a small thing uuto 
you that the God of Israel hath separated you 
from the congregation of Israel, to bring you 
near to himself, to do the service of the taber- 
nacle of the Lord and seek ye the priesthood 

also ?" " For which cause thou and all thy com- 



MORNING THIRTEENTH. 157 

• 

pany are gathered together against the Lord ; 
and what is Aaron, that ye murmur against him ?** 

Mama. Bear this in mind, Mary : it was not 
Aaron they insulted, but God, else their punish- 
ment might have been disproportioned to the 
offence. We have now, from our sad experi- 
ence of human nature, accounted for Korah's 
impious vying with his cousin. Let us search 
into the history and probable motives of Dathan 
and Abiram, his partners in revolt. Who were 
they ? 

Mary. " Sons of Reuben,** Mama. 

Mama. And had the sons of Reuben any 
possible claim to the priesthood ? 

Mary. None that I know of. 

Mama. No; but as descendants of Jacob's 
eldest son, it is supposed they aspired to the tem^ 
poral rule over the people, which God had seen 
fit, in his wisdom, to confer on his servant Moses. 
So you see both his ecclesiastical and civil ap- 
pointments were arraigned by this knot of des- 
perate rebels. What test did Moses propose for 
vindicating the former ? 

Mary. He bid Korah and his company take 
censers on the morrow, and offer incense, and 
God would " show who are His.'* 

Mama. Whom did he mean by Korah*s "com- 
pany ?" 



158 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

Mary. I suppose the ^' two hundred and fifty 
princes of the Assembly/* who were as bad as 
himself but ought to have known better. 

Mama. Yes, Mary, they are called here 
« &mous in the congregation, men of renown ;" 
but renowned, alas ! in our day for nothing but 
pre-eminence in wickedness, and the awfubes^ of 
its merited punishment — ^for if ever there were 
presumptuous sinners in the world, such were 
surely those in&tuated ^ leaders in Israeli'' How 
did Dathan and Abiram, who did not pretend to 
the priest's office, show their contempt of God 
and Moses ? 

Mary. They would not " come up " when 
Moses sent for them ; and it really looked as if 
they meant to loock God, for they called Egypt 
a << land flowing with milk and honey,'' the very 
words He always used when speaking of Canaan ! 

Mama. I am quite glad you noticed this 
aggravation of their heinous ingratitude. Not 
coiktent with the £ysehood of accusing Moses of 
making hiniidf a prince, they charge him with 
evil intentions towards themselves; a charge 
which all his meekness could not enable him to 
bear unrufBed, though, as usual, his appeal i» 
from man to God. Though " very wroth," he 
does not — as the authority intrusted to him fully 
warranted — apprehend and execute these traitor- 



MOBNINO THIRTEENTH. 159 

ous rebels : he does not even invoke vengeance 
on them from the Lord. His worst wish — wrung 
from him by flagrant injustice — is, that God 
" would not respect their offering I" From this 
we may learn that in the awful judgment which 
followed, he was merely the reluctant minister of 
the Higher Power to whom he had referred the 
case. But the history brings us back to Korah 
and his accomplices. What was the result of 
their presumptuous intrusion on the priestly 
office of Aaron ? Had they no abettors in it ? 

Mary. I am afraid a great many. It says 
<< Korah gathered all the congregation against 
Moses and Aaron.*' 

Mama. Yes, Mary, so wide and rapid is the 
contagion of evil example ; and so nearly did it 
involve a whole people in destruction, that God 
had actually warned Moses and Aaron to sepft* 
rate from this people, '^ that he might consume 
them in a moment I" 

Mary. But these good men fell on their faces 
and prayed; and the people had time and warning 
given them to get away. What a mercy it was 
they did it I but how dreadfully daring of Da- 
than and Abiram to stand in their very tent 
doors, defying God, with their wives and children 
about them I 

Mama. Yes, Mary ; and this very hardened 



160 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

defiance caused the deaths of those dearest to 
them ; for, (as I said before,) Korah's family are 
supposed to have escaped, by the object of his 
rebellion being the priesthood, and its scene the 
door of the tabernacle at a distance from his own 
tents, — ^while the proud pretenders to temporal 
sovereignty in Israel involved the very posterity 
whose claims they wished to advance in the 
doom they thus provoked I How was this dread- 
ful doom announced ? 

Mary. Moses said — " Hereby shall ye know 
that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works ; 
for I have not done them of mine own mind. If 
these men die the common death of all mankind, 
or if they be visited after the visitation of all men, 
then the Lord hath not sent me. But if the 
Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her 
mouth and swallow them up, with all that apper- 
tain unto them, and they go down quick into the 
pit; then ye shall understand that these men 
have provoked the Lord." 

Mama. Let us "understand" it also, my 
dear ; and beware, from this awftil lesson, lest by 
provoking the same God, we open for ourselves 
an abyss, of which the pit that closed on these 
men is but a faint and feeble image I Let us, 
while the " cry of them " yet resounds in our 
ears, adopt — but in a more Christian and less 



MORNING TUIRTEBNTH. 161 

slavish spirit — the example and exclamation of 
<< all Israel," and flee all participation in their 
sins, " lest the earth swallow us up also." A dif- 
ferent, but not less frightful doom seems to have 
awaited the intruders within the precincts of the 
sanctuary — fire came out from the Lord and 
consumed the two hundred and fifty men that 
offered incense. Let us learn from this, Mary, 
how unwelcome, nay abhorrent to God, is all 
worship springing from corrupt, nay unauthor- 
ized sources. Of this last we have in this his- 
tory another proof, which, (as occurring in the 
omitted book of Leviticus,) I am glad to have an 
opportunity of mentioning here ; to show that 
even the fevoured posterity of Aaron were not 
secure either against transgressions or chastise- 
ment. Nadab and Abihu, his two sons— youths 
so highly distinguished as to be permitted to at- 
tend their father and Moses on Mount Sinai — 
either presumptuously or carelessly used " strange " 
(that is unhallowed) << fire '* in their ministrations 
in the sanctuary ; and were struck dead for it, 
precisely like the more outrageous offenders here* 
So completely will the "jealous God " with Irhom 
we have to do, show himself " a consuming fir6^ 
to all who substitute a worship and religion of 
their own, for the mediation and atonement He 
has graciously but peremptorily appointed. How 



162 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

was this signal vengeance to be commemorated 
to succeeding generations ? 

Mary. The " censers " of these wicked men 
were to be picked out of the burning " because 
they were hallowed," and made into plates for 
God's altar; to remind the people that "no 
stranger, not of the seed of Aaron, should come 
nigh to offer incense before the Lord." Mama I 
I can scarce believe my eyes. Next morning all 
the congregation " murmured against Moses and 
Aaron," and said they had killed God*s people ! 
Were they mad ? 

Mama. Neither more nor less so than the 
" fool who hath said in his heart there is no God" 
—for such surely was the practical inference to 
be drawn from their insane contempt of warn- 
ings! Did even Moses now continue to pray 
for his infatuated countrymen ? 

Mary. No, Mama ; but he bid Aaron take 
fire from the altar^ and go quickly, and make an 
atonement, for the plague was begun. 

Mama. And the efficacy of the expedient 
proves it to have been from God, like that great- 
er atonement which, blessed be His name, He 
hath provided for us. Nor can Scripture afford 
a livelier image either of our undone condition 
and imminent peril on the one hand, or our won- 
derful deliverance by the sacrifice of Christ on 



MORNING THIRTEENTH. 163 

the other, — than is presented by Aaron's run- 
ning into the midst of the devoted congregation, 
and standing with the consecrated censer in his 
hands, " between the living and the dead," ar- 
resting, in its mid career of destruction, the pes- 
tilence which had already sealed the doom of 
" fourteen thousand " souls I 

If any thing could have been wanting to con- 
firm, in the eyes of the Israelites, the proof of 
God*s choice of Aaron afforded bj'^ the accept- 
ance of his atoning incense, — the miracle of his 
rod alone budding while those of the other tribes 
remained dry and sapless, would afford to the 
mind of a gross and carnal people, a continual 
testimony of his selection for the priesthood. 
Accordingly, long after the rod itself, with the 
other contents of the ark, were lost, the Jews pre- 
served the memory of the miraculous rod by 
striking it on some of their coins. 

The " murmurings " of the rebels seem, by 
this decisive testimony, to have been, for a time 
at least, silenced and suppressed ; and not long 
after we shall find the much-tried object of them, 
the venerable Aaron, resigning at once his life 
and office for a better world, and " more endur- 
ing priesthood." 

In the mean time, let us draw from this day's 
lesson deep and humbling reflections of the dan- 



164 M0RNIN68 WITH MAMA. 

ger of spiritual pride, and the temptations pecu* 
liar to the professing servants of God. That 
very descent from Levi and nearness to the altar 
and its offices, which formed the boast of '^ Ko- 
rah and his company," caused their memorable 
fell; and many are there among us to whom this 
fall may read a solemn lesson. 

" We are all holy" said the ambitious usurp- 
ing sons of Kohath, because, thanks to their birth 
and God's favour to their tribe, their honoured 
hands had often borne aloft, in the sight of the 
people, the ark of Jehovah's immediate presence. 
Better had it been for them never to have en- 
joyed the envied distinction, than by abusing it 
as they did, to question God's appointments, out- 
rage his authority, and pro&ne, with mad ambi- 
tion, his violated sanctuary I But yet " more 
tolerable in the day of judgment " will it be for 
them than for us, if with clearer light and gospel 
advantages we presume on any degree of sup- 
posed sanctity, or ground of acceptance with 
God, that shall supersede His sole Mediator, and 
set at nought that ^< great High Priest" of whom 
Aaron was but the humble and fallible earthly 
representative ! 



165 



MORNING FOURTEENTH. 



LiiissoN. — Numbers, Chapters xx. and xxi. 



Mama. We have, in the beginning of this 
day's reading, the melancholy yet instructive 
spectacle of the chosen nation, whom in the 
strength of their God we had triumphantly ac- 
companied to the threshold of the promised land, 
once more wanderers on the confines of Egypt, 
and sojourners in Kadesh ; one of the names of 
which latter station, viz. that of ** Bamea," sig- 
nifies, we are told, the " son of wandering," I 
hope you remember what it was that thus over- 
clouded their bright prospects, and cast them 
forth once more into the desert, where the mira- 
culous support they had so ill deserved, alone 
enabled them to exist as monuments alike of the 
Divine justice and mercy. How did they, (like 
Esau, of whose descendants we have read to- 
day), forfeit their birth-right, and bring on them- 
selves these calamities ? 



166 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

Mary. Oh ! we read about it the other day. 
They believed the wicked spies rather than God, 
and " would not go up to possess the good land 
he had given them." 

Mama. Very well remembered, if you have 
made the important application, that want of 
faith is equally the bar to the enjoyment of spi- 
ritual privileges. God has given us a " better 
country, even an heavenly," and raised up faith- 
ful witnesses, like Caleb and Joshua, to testify its 
infinite value, and the " access " we all may have 
to it by the " one true and living way ;" and 
shall the close of life find us, like the Israelites, 
unprofitable wanderers in the wilderness of sin, 
which, like them, we had but to ^' call on our 
God," and bid adieu to for ever ? 

What eminent person first paid the penalty 
which disobedience had entailed on all that ge- 
neration, save Caleb and Joshua ? 

Mary. Miriam, Mama. She must have been 
of a great age, for she was old enough to watch 
by the river when Moses was a little baby, I 
remember how cleverly she managed getting 
him nursed by his own mother. 

Mama. Yes, it is supposed she was then 
twelve years old, and by her prudent conduct at 
that period, she certainly contributed, under Pro- 
vidence, to the religious nurture of her brother's 



MORNING FOURTEENTH. 167 

infant years. She died " full of days," at the age 
of one hundred and thirty, four months before 
Aaron and eleven before Moses; and was buried, 
Josephus tells us, with great solemnity, while 
later writers say, her sepulchre at Kadesh was 
to be seen in their time. 

What trial soon after proved the people to have 
profited little by their thirty-seven years' expe- 
rience of God's bounty in their daily sustenance ? 

Mary, There was no water ; but they need 
not have minded that I am sure. They knew 
that Moses could get it from God for a word. 

Mama. Yes, Mary, but they forgot it. Do 
you never, never forget that there is a " living 
water " more essential still to your nourishment 
and growth in grace, which a << greater than Mo- 
ses " can and will provide for you, would you 
yourself but say the " word " which alone can 
make the gracious fountain flow ? What says its 
heavenly and compassionate guardian Christ him- 
self on this humbling backwardness ? << Ye will 
not come to me that ye might have life.** 

Did the Israelites, in pious remembrance of 
God's former miracle, now confidently apply to 
Moses for relief? 

Mary. No ; they " chode with him," and 
said, " Would God we had died when our breth- 
ren died before the Lord." How wicked. Mama ! 



168 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

They need not have been in such a hurry, for 
God had said they were all to die in the wil- 
derness. And how could they say Moses had 
brought them there, when it was their own un- 
belief and disobedience ? 

Mama. Just as we all lay our misfortunes 
and sufferings on any cause but the sins of 
which they are the necessary consequence. Was 
it Moses's fault that they were in this " evil 
place," and not in a << land of seed, and figs, and 
vines, and pomegranates," even Canaan ; where 
they and their children might have been peace- 
ably established, and reaping, not only the fruit 
of their own, but of other nations* industry and 
diligence? How did Moses at first reply to 
their false insinuations ? 

Mary. As he always did, by " falling on his 
face before God." 

Mama. Well had it been for him, if the same 
spirit of humility had governed all parts of this 
unfortunate transaction ! What instructions was 
God graciously pleased to give him ? 

Mary. He was to take the rod 

Mama. What rod ? 

Mary. Oh I I suppose the same which he 
turned to a serpent in Egypt, and dried the Red 
Sea with. 

Mama. How had it been so long preserved ? 



MORNING FOURTEENTH. 169 

Mary, By being laid up in the ark. It says 
after, that he took it " from before the Lord." 

Mama. And how was he commanded to use 
it on the present occasion ? Was he to strike 
with it, as formerly, upon the rock, and so bring 
water ? 

Mary. No, he was only to speak to the rock. 
I wonder why the change was ordered,''and God 
so angry when the rock was struck instead. 

Mama. Various good reasons maybe assign- 
ed, were any necessary to prove disobedience (in 
a lawgiver especially) to be of itself inexcusable. 
Had the rod uniformly been made the instrument 
of procuring water, so gross and ignorant a people 
as the Jews would, in all probability, have come 
to pay it superstitious veneration ; and (besides 
the unquestionable propriety of God*s vindicating 
His authority when transgressed by so eminent 
a person in the face of the whole congregation) * 
it is highly probable that Moses's rebuke and 
punishment on this occasion — his evident falli- 
bility as a sinful mortal, and prohibition from 
entering Canaan — were all designed to guard 
against the idolatrous worship of this great leader, 
into which (after the example of almost every 
heathen nation) the Jews would, in after ages, 
have been so ready to fall. 

But, in addition to the mere transgression of 

Q 



170 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

the leUer of God's command, there was, in the 
spirit of Moses's condoet in this solitary instance, 
a want both of meekness and iiedth, which, as 
ccmtrasted with the tenor of his life, is at once 
humiliating and instmctiye. How did he address, 
not the rock, which he was commanded to speak 
to — but the people, for whose faults he had here- 
tofore manifested an almost Christian tenderness? 

Mary. " How now, ye rebels I must we fetch 
you water out of this rock ?" Mama, this sounds 
proud and haughty, and not like good Moses at 
alL 

Mama. True, Mary ; and from this unusual 
and unbecoming heat and arrogance of temper 
arose probably the wilful deviation which fol- 
lowed, from God*s express command. It is sup- 
posed that want of faith accompanied (as it gene- 
rally does) the feilure in obedience, and his 
striking the rock twice has been interpreted into 
doubt and distrust of God. Be this as it may, 
sure we are that the transgression which lost 
Moses Canaan was no Hght or trivial one, and 
must have contained in it something peculiarly 
offensive to God. How indeed does the offended 
Jehovah himself imply the want of faith to which 
we have alluded ? 

Mary. He says, " Because ye believe me noty 
to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of 



MORNING FOURTEENTH. IJl 

Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congre- 
gation into the land which I have given them.*' 
Oh I Mama, I am sorry for Moses. Did he not 
beg God to forgive him for this time ? 

Mama. That he did ! as you will learn from 
his own affecting words in Deuteronomy. But 
it might not be. The " effectual fervent prayer 
of a righteous man," though it << availeth much,'' 
cannot always turn away the temporal judgments 
of God ; for you remember Paul besought thrice 
in vain that his '^ thorn in the flesh " might be 
removed, and our blessed Lord himself that this 
** cup might pass from him." But the same spirit 
of pious submission which made Him add, ^* not 
my will, but Thine" — we may hope supported 
(though in a for inferior degree) the grievously 
humbled and disappointed leader of IsraeL Did 
the disobedience of Moses frustrate the miracle ? 

Mary. No, no ; " the waters came out abun- 
dantly." I wonder God did not punish the people 
by withholding them. They were the cause of 
Moses' sin. 

Mama. What would have become in that 
case of their innocent little ones, and those beasts, 
of whose wants God is so tenderly mindfril ? Be- 
sides, you forget His glory, the chief end of all 
his wonders in the wilderness. It was that Je- 
hovah might be ^^ sanctified " and had in honour, 



172 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

both that the people " drank abundantly,*' and 
Moses was rebuked ; and it is that we may take 
warning by the transaction, that the venerable 
sufferer himself has so touehingly recorded it ; 
while his more vain-glorious historian, Josephus, 
totally omits so humiliating a slur on his nation's 
lawgiver. 

Over whom did the " king of Edom " reign, 
of whose inhospitality to Israel we next read ? 
Why is he called his " brother ?" 

Mary. You told me the Edomites were de- 
scendants of Esau, the brotner of Jacob. 

Mama. Well remembered ; and it was on that 
account (though it aggravated the insolent un« 
kindness of their conduct) that the Israelites, by 
God's command, simply, nay humbly, asked per- 
mission to pass through the land, paying for the 
very water they drank ; and when harshly refused 
and threatened, abstained from chastising Edom. 
It is said elsewhere of this event, that " because 
of God's ancient covenant" with Isaac, Israel 
should not *' take so much as a footsbreadth of 
land from the posterity of Esau." Oh ! Mary, 
what does this gracious adherence to temporal 
promises, even in favour of a " despiser" like 
Esau, give us reason to hope for, if we^ through 
the appointed channel, but put in our claims to 
the spiritual possessions we are heirs to I 



MORNING FOURTSENTH. 173 

What melancholy event occurred on " Mount 
Hor " on the borders of Edom ? 

Mary. Poor old Aaron died, for his share 
of the disobedience at Meribah. How sad he 
must have felt when his priestly garments were 
stript off I Only he had a son to succeed him, 
and Joshua was a stranger to Moses. 

Mama. To his blood certainly ; but a son in 
love and tenderness, and, what was more material 
in the eye of a true servant of God, closely allied 
to him in piety, fidelity, and zeal for the Lord. 
There was something vastly solemn and impres- 
sive in the circumstance of Moses and Eleazar 
ascending Mount Hor with their dying kinsman 
in the sight of all the congregation, and returning 
bereaved and alone, from their melancholy pil- 
grimage ! It is thought God purposely left un- 
certain the place of interment of both the brother 
patriarchs, lest in after ages superstitious honours 
should be paid to their remains. Both went up, 
at the command of God, to high mountains, in 
an unfrequented desert, put off, like Aaron, 
their garments of mortality, and ascended to 
'* their Father and our Father, to their God and 
our God." 

But we are anticipating the decease of Moses. 
What symbolical action, the most strikingly 
figurative perhaps in the whole Bible, of the efii- 



174 MORNINGS WITH MAMi\. 

cacy of faith in Christ, — was he spared to per- 
form, before he " went hence and was no more 
seen ?" 

Mary. Setting up the brazen serpent, Mama, 
that whoever looked at it might be cured of the 
fiery serpent's bite. 

Mama. What had brought this dreadful visi- 
tation on the people ? 

Mary. Oh I the old sin of speaking against 
God and Moses, and murmuring, and loathing 
manna ; besides, it says, they were '* much dis- 
couraged " by the length of the way. 

Mama. And what but their sins had involv- 
ed them in its tedious distressing mazes, and pre- 
vented their enjoying, forty years sooner, the rest 
and abundance of Canaan ? Strange I that in all 
their sinful reflections on God and his chosen 
instruments, not one is ever pointed against 
themselves, the sole authors and guilty aggra- 
vators of every calamity of their pilgrimage I But 
though " much people of Israel died," did God, 
in deserved indignation, leave the whole nation 
a prey to the fury of the serpents ? 

Mary. Oh ! no ; when they owned they had 
sinned, and prayed to Him, He caused Moses to 
make a serpent of brass, that they might look 
upon it and live. 

Mama. Never forgot, Mary, in reading the 



MORNING FOURTEENTH. 175 

record of this equally striking and merciful ex- 
pedient, whose authority we have for saying that 
" as the serpent of brass was lifted up in the wil- 
derness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 
that whosoever looketh on him should not perish 
but have everlasting life." The parallel in this 
instance between the type and its fulfilment is 
more than usually close, so that '* he who runs 
may read it." We have in each the object for 
which the '* sign " was graciously appointed, viz. 
a triumph over sin and its consequences in the 
person of its old representative, the " serpent " — 
the " lifting up" of it in the sight of all the people 
— and, above all, that indispensable condition of 
" looking towards it," with the bodily eye, (as 
in the case of the Christian with that of faith,) 
without which a temporal or spiritual cure would 
be alike hopeless and impossible. Never forget 
that He who graciously pointed out the analogy 
for our instruction, was pleased to add, ^* and I, 
if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." 
Shall we be of those who frustrate, to their own 
eternal ruin, this merciful declaration ; making 
(as far as our finite means extend) the ^' counsel 
of God of none eflect," and " doing despite " to 
that " Spirit of grace" by whom the mercifiil 
prediction was dictated? May that God who 
devised alike the one remedy for sin, and its 



176 MORNINGS WITH MAHA. 

earthly symbol in the wilderness— -and that Savi- 
our who ^* bruised '' on Calvary the ^^ head of the 
serpent,"' whose malice he defeated in the reco- 
very of the Israelites — and that Holy Spirit who 
recorded both for our instruction — sanctify both 
to our eternal salvation ; that having << looked 
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our fidth *' 
here, we may << see him as he is '' through the 
ages of eternity, in the Canaan above I 



177 



MORNING FIFTEENTH. 

Lesson. — Numbers, Chapters xxii. xxiii. and xxiv. 

Mama. The length of our yesterday's read- 
ing, and superior importance of the more spirit- 
ual topics suggested by the mention of the Bra- 
zen Serpent, have caused us to pass over some 
subsequent particulars of the vengeance which 
Israel, by the permission and with the aid of Je- 
hovah, executed on the kings of the Amorites 
and of Bashan, a glance over which will account 
for the alarm of Balak, the son of Zippor. Who 
was he, my dear ? 

Mary. The king of Moab. 

Mama. And from whom did I tell you Moab 
was descended ? 

Mary. From Lot, the nephew of Abraham. 

Mama. On which account it does not appear 
that Israel had as yet any commission to attack 
or annoy Moab. But why was Balak's panic 
natural ? Look back to the end of the last 
chapter, and sec how Israel — not without just 



17B MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

provocation — ^treated Sihon and Og, the kings 
of the Amorites. 

Mary. They smote them and their sons, and 
people, till there was none left alive. I suppose, 
then, Mama, the Amorites were no relations to 
Israel. 

Mama. No. On the contrary, they were of 
those Canaanite nations whom God, for their 
wickedness, had determined to cut off. But we 
must return to MoaK What effect had the 
slaughter of the Amorites on its king ? 

Mart. He was <' sore afraid '' and distressed. 

Mama. And did he — as prudence as well as 
oourtesy would have dictated — send ambassadors 
to his kinsmen of Israel* to try and gain their 
friendship, or at least make " conditions of peace 
with them ;" as our Lord in the Gospel remarks, 
a wise king would do, even when his enejny was 
« yet afar off?" 

Mary. Oh no. He never sent to them at 
all ; but to Balaam the son of Beor; and for such 
a foolish purpose ! To come and curse his ene- 
mies for him, as if words could do them any 
harm! 

Mama. That depended — according to the 
belief of those times — on the character of the 
words, and the power of the speaker. What was 
Balaam? 



MORNING FIJPTEENTH. 179 

Mary. I know he was a prophet, though it 
does not say so here. 

Mama. And if so, and i^ (though an unwor- 
thy one,) a prophet of the true Grod ; his <^words>'' 
as you call them, might not be so poweriess as 
you imagine. Did not Elijah's prayer withhold 
rain for three years, and bring down fire from 
heaven, on his and God's enemies ? 

Mart. But then the Israelites were not Grod's 
enemies, but his chosen people, and Balaam, as 
a prophet, must have known it. 

Mama. And in so saying, yon have just exp 
plained what it was that made his attempted com- 
pliance, for the sake of ^ filthy lucres" with the 
king of Moab's wishes, so monstrously and un- 
pardonably sinfiiL The ignorant heathen mon- 
arch, who thought to make the kingdom of Hear 
ven (like that of Satan) a ^ house divided against 
itself," may find excuse for his folly; but remem- 
ber that the professing servant of God who would 
compromise between Him and <^ Mammon" will 
incur the sin, and share the punishment of Ba- 
laam ? What was the nature of the bribes for 
which he sold his soul ? 

Mary. I don't know^-4t only calls them the 
" rewards of divination" here. 

Mama. Do you recollect any instance where 



180 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

similar presents were brought to gain the &vour 
of a prophet ? 

Mart. Oh I yes-^-Naaman brought quanti- 
ties of fine clothes, and gold, and silver, to Elisha 
to cure him. 

Mama. And did Elisha eagerly accept the 
" rewards," even when no sacrifice of duty or 
conscience was involved ? 

Mary. No, Mama. He gave God all the 
glory, and would take nothing. 

Mama. Very well remembered ; and a truer 
distinction could scarcely have been found be- 
tween a servant of God and a slave to Mammon. 
Balaam's eyes glistened at the promised '^ re- 
wards," and his covetous heart longed to possess 
them; while conscience, not yet drowned, but 
perverted, whispered that God would perhaps^ 
somehow or other, connive at sin. 

Mary. Mama, why did God ask Balaam, 
" what men are those with thee ?" Surely He 
needed none to tell him that, or any thing else. 

Mama. No, Mary, but He loves, by search- 
ing questions, to force us, as it were, to convict 
ourselves. Would any direct accusation, think 
you, have been so terrible to Cain, as the sim- 
ple question, " Where is thy brother Abel?" 
thus put by the Lord, to whom that brother s 



MOANING FIFTSBNTH. . 181 

blood had cried from the ground, at the moment 
it wa^ impiously shed? Balaam,, well as he 
could deceive himself, durst not equivocate with 
the Most High ; and simply related the embassy 
and its object — God's negative on which he had 
foreseen, though covetousness sought to blind 
him to it. What was the decided dictate of the 
Lord whom he pretended to serve ? 

Mary. *^ Thou shalt not go with them, thou 
shalt not curse the people, for they are blessed.'* 
Mama, Balaam had no excuse, nothing could be 
plainer. 

Mama. Except the << still small voice" of 
conscience which we are in the habit (like Bar 
laam) of explaining away every day of our lives.; 
though, if listened to, it. as decidedly refuses us 
leave to sin, as the voice of God (which in truth 
it is) forbade Balaam to go with the messengers. 
Even he, sent them away once ; and so do we, 
under the influence of salutary fear, dismiss the 
first suggestions of eviL But, like Balaam's 
" princes," or the " strong man armed," of the 
gospel, they return doubly furnished, to the con- 
test ; and if we parley with them, as we are sdl 
apt to do, our fidl, like his, is certain, and our 
<< latter state," like that of the possessed man in 
the parable, <^ is ten times worse than the first." 

Mary. But, Mama, Balaam* did not behave 

R 



182 MOHNINSS WITH MABTA. 

80 ill ; for he said if Bdak would^' giv^i hitn&fs 
house full of silver and gold" he would not go, 
unless Grod allowed him. 

Mama. Oh I the deeeitfulness of the human 
heart, hoping to find a " cloak for its . sin," even 
in the toleration, or withheld interposition of 
God I Would the Israelites become the lem 
'^ blessed/' or cursing them the less sinful j sup- 
posing God no longer directly to interfi^re ? 

Mary. Oh, no I Balaam would only try to 
think so. 

Mama. Just as we do, when inclination and 
duty renew their daily, nay almost hourly con- 
flict I Instead of perceiving and acknowledging 
that God has pronounced, and that unalterably — 
against us— we linger a night '^ to see" what He 
(or rather our own sophistry and that of Satan) 
will " say unto us more ;" or from that very si- 
lence of the internal monitor, which is in itself a 
" savour of death," we argue that what was sin 
yesterday, in the counsels of Jehov€di, has become 
lawful, nay pnuseworthy, to-day I Do you think 
His permission to Balaam to go, proceeded from 
any change in the nature of the action ? 

Mary. Oh I. no ; God only let him go, be^ 
cause by making him bless the people instead of 
cursing them> he should punish both him and 
Balak. 



MORNING FIFTEENTH. 183 

Mama. Very well and^^tood, and clearly 

expressed, and to be remembered, whenever 

God, for your chastisement, ceases to hinder ycu 

from doing wrong. Was He the less displeased 

with Balaam ? 

Mart. No. ^ God*s .anger was kindled be- 
cause he went," and ^' the angel of the Lord stood 
in the way for <an adversary against him." Sure- 
ty, Mama, God was good in giving him one more 
ehanoe to take fright, and turn back. 

Mama. Yes, for no doubt the same power 
which opened the eyes, as well as loosed the 
tongue of the dumb animal, could have made 
the arresting Spirit at once visible to the pro- 
phet But unaccountable, nay miraculous as 
was the impediment in the way, Balaam would 
see nothing in it but the obstinacy of his never- 
before refractory beast ; on whom he turned all 
lis rage, as we are in -the habit of doing, on any 
erhaps meccifiil obstacle which stands (or.^es 
> stand) between us and destruction. 
Mary. It is quite plain. Mama, that nothing 
mid have convinced Balaam, since the speak- 
; of his ass did not Howcoiiitfan ass be made 
speak? I have read in my natural history 
; even monkies, (which are much more like 
) have not the organs jiecessary to enable 
\ to do it. 



184 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

Mama. My dear, there is nothing so absurd 
as trying to aeeount for miracles ; which, if they^ 
could Jhappen naturally would cease to be such. 
Whether ^ He who formed the ear, and make^ 
the deaf and the dumb, and the seeing and the 
blind,** endowed the work of his hands with the 
necessary powers for << confounding,** (as in the 
ease of the fiilse prophet of old and scoffers of 
our own day,) " the wisdom of the wise " — or 
whether the reproving Toice only appeared, (aa 
is more probable,) to issue from the affirighted 
animal, is perfectly immateriaL One thing alone 
is certain, that if we have only this instance in 
Scripture of brutes being gifted with speech, many 
are the passages where the Ahnighty Himself 
as it were " puts words iii their mouth,** to rebuke 
the ingratitude and disobedience of man. <^ The 
6x knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's 
Crib, fbut Isirael doth not know, my people doth 
not !con$ider.** The tenderness of the Lord of 
Creation for its inferior part, we have often had 
occasion to remark ; and you will observe that 
the first words of reproof used by the angel, re* 
late to Balaam*s cruelty to his ass. Did the 
consciousnesi^ of this celestial " adversary's *' pre- 
sence not at length alarm Balaam ? 

Mary. That it did 1 He even offered to go 
back — if it displeased Him. Mama ! he must 



MORNINO FIFTEENTH. 185 

have been only^pretending still — for he could not 
doubt that it did. 

Mama. He was << pretending," Mary, and 
that God well knew — but He <^ is not mocked," 
and instead of accepting the tardy and insincere 
jrepentance.of the prophet, let .him follow ^' his 
own devices," as he thought — ^but in reality made 
him;an. instrument for conveying to heathen na- 
tions God's inmiutable piuposes of good towards 
his chosen people. . So sensible, indeed, was even 
Balaam of this, that he told Balak at once, he 
had no power to say any thing, but the << word 
which God should put .into his mouth." 

Mary. Mama, who were the seven altars 
to, that Balaam made the king build ? I suppose 
to God. 

JVIam A. It is imagined so ; and yet their being 
on the *< high places of Baal " looks suspicious, 
as if idolatry, (as well as covetousness, which the 
Apostle says is one form of it,) lurked in the 
mind of the treacherous prophet ; the more so as 
his last desperate effort to make the blessing of 
God jon the Israelites << of none effect," was the 
seducing them to join the Moabites in the wor- 
ship of Baal. At all events, however, he went out 
on the present occasion to meet Jehovah, and 
truly the magnificent words put into his mouth 
by the God of Israel sufficiently attest their Dir 



186 UORNINOS VITH MAKA. 

vine origin. 1^ their eptmng be borne ii 
mind when, as children of God, we become ex 
ptieed to any one's hatred or iU will In vain efaal 
any man " curse whom the Lord hath not cursed 
or dely whom the Lord hatli not defied." Wha; 
particulars about Isntel occur in Balaam's fltv 
prophecy ? 

Mabv. Their dwelling "alone," and theii 
great numbers. 

Mama. And have both been remaibblj 
fulfilled? 

Mart. Yes; they never mised, you havi 
told me, with any other nation ; and even fort] 
yews before this time they went oat of Egyp 
" six hundred thousand men, besides women ant 
children." 

Mama. I (un quite glad you recollect ant 
apply so well what you have formerly read. Ii 
repays me for all my endeavours to impress ii 
on you. But what remarkable and often quotet 
Wiah of a personal nature does the prophetic vie* 
of laraers profqierity draw forth from Balaam ? 

Mary. " Let me die the death of the r^t 
eons, and let my last end be like his." 

Mama. There are few, even among sinners 
hy whom that wish is not echoed, though thej 
would fain combine its liilfilment with a life o 
vinful indulgence. Do you remember the strik 



MOBNING FIFTEENTH. 187 

ing contrast of Balaam s death with the peaceful 
end he thus wishes ? 

Mary. No, Mama ; I forget it 

Mama. After putting the climax to his wick- 
edness by the plot before mentioned for seducing 
Israel to sin, he was slain in battle by the peor 
ple he had striven doubly to deprive of their 
blessing. What did he do when first disappcnnted 
in cursing them ? 

Mary. He tried again to please the wicked 
king from another place, as if places could alter 
God's opinion I But, Mama, he says> << God had 
not seen iniquity in Israel ;" now, I am sure we 
have both seen and read of a great deaL 

Mama. True, and how much more must the 
discemer of hearts have discovered] But in the 
highly figurative language of this ptophecy, *' not 
seeing" in Jehovah, is the same as not *< mark- 
ing," or not « visiting," in other parte of Scrip- 
ture ; or in our own blessed gospel pages, not 
<' imputing" those sins, which the blood of atone- 
ment could alone— either before or after the com- 
ing of Christ — ^veil from the eye of Omniscience. 
God, who << is not a man that He should repent " 
— having once chosen Israel for his people, and 
sworn " by Himself" to defend and bless them — 
would not be turned from his purpose, even by 
the " iniquity '* which cleaves to every &Uen 



188 H0BNIN6S M'ITU MAHA. 

^creature, and which — ^were he " extreme to mark *' 
— ^no fiesh could stand before Him. 

We have hardly leisure to analyze minutely 
tdl the features of eastern imagery and prophetic 
sublimity with which the greatness and prosperity 
of Israel are shadowed forth in these successive 
predictions. We must hasten to the last, which 
is often quoted as one of the most magnificent 
announcements of the future Messiah, inscribed 
by the finger of God on the prophetic record. 
How is this most important of all the " visions" 
of Balaam ushered in ? 

Mary. << He hath said which heard the words 
of God, and knew the knowledge of the Most 
High, which saw the vision of the Almighty — 
I shall see him, but not now ; I shall behold him, 
^ut not nigh.'* 

Mama. Stop, Mary ; what an awful picture 
does this unconsciously give of the future state 
of that apostate prophet, who, though the far 
voured instrument of such communications to 
others, and << knowing the knowledge of the Most 
High'' — was doomed to expiate the abuse of these 
vast privOeges by eternal distance and separation 
from the very Saviour whose kingdom and glory 
he predicted I Under what lofty images does he 
personify the Redeemer ? 



MOBNINO FIFTEENTH. 189 

Mary. " There shall come a Star out of 
Jacob, and a Sceptre shall arise out of Israel." 

Mama. Though the minute particulars of the 
victories ascribed to this illustrious person have 
caused this prophecy to be primarily applied to 
David — all expositors agree in referring its ulti- 
mate accomplishment to the Messiah ; so much 
so, that an impostor (one of the &lse Christi 
foretold by our Lord) took the name of ** Son of 
the Star"' — awhile the announcement of the true 
Deliverer's birth by a ^* star in the east"' lends 
a sanction to the received application of these 
noble images to Him who — ^beheld like a " star " 
afar off by those kings and prophets who only 
^^ desired to see'' those things with which our 
eyes have been blessed — now shines upon us in 
the meridian splendour of the *^ Sun of Right* 
eousness." 



190 



MORNING SIXTEENTH. 

liESBON.— ^Deuteronomy, Cliapten i. ii. and ill. 

Mama. The book of Deuteronomy, at whichy 
by the omission, as usual, of the ordinances, ge- 
nealogies, and local regulations contained in the 
latter part of that of Numbers, we have arrived, 
is so called from two words signifying a '< repeti- 
tion of the law ;* and is rendered very interesting 
to jps, as well as the Jews, by the touching oir- 
cumstances under which it was delivered by 
Moses, just before his decease, to his beloved 
countrymen, and the affectionate energy with 
which it recapitulates their many deliverances, 
.and enforces the corresponding duties of grati- 
tude and obedience. 

Nor was this summaiy of God*s former pre- 
cepts and miracles a mere gratuitous effusion of 
.the dying lawgiver's good-will to the nation he 
had so long led as a shepherd. Most of those 
who witnessed the departure from Egypt, ox 



L 



MORNING STZTEBNTITr 191 

heard the promulgation of the law on Sinai, were 
dead ; and a generation had sprung up, to whom 
a rehearsal of God's mighty works and perfect 
commandments must have been anything but 
superfluous. We all require, my dear Mary, to- 
be reminded of the majesty, the justice, and long- 
suffering of Jehovah ; and nowhere shall we findf 
thBm more forcibly displayed, or irresistibly 
enforced, as motives of human conduct, than in 
tiie lawgiver of Israel's p^ing address to' his 
countrymen. 

At what point in their journey' Canaanward 
had the Israelites arrived, when this remarkable 
exhortation was delivered ? 

Mary. It says they, were in a plain " over 
against the Red Sea.'' Surely they had not 
gone all that way back again. 

Mart. No, Mary ; that is a mistake of tran»- 
scribers. But at God's command, and to punish 
their disobedience, they did, as we have read, 
retrace their weary steps as far as Kadesh. How 
fer does the second verse say that place was from 
Horeb ? 

Mary. Only eleven days* journey. What a 
little way I 

Mama. And yet how long did their wan- 
derings within this limited space judicially con^ 
tinue ? 



192 MOBNINOS WITH SIAMA. 

Mary. Forty years, Mama, — to teach them 
to distrust Grod. . 

Mama. Right ; let it teach us to avoid their 
sin of unbelief What does the 6th verse say 
relative to their original sojourn in Horeb ? 

Mary. God said to them, " Ye have dwelt 
long enough in this mount.*' 

Mama. Do you know how long that was ? 

Mary. No. 

Mama. About one year after the promulga- 
tion of the law from its lofty pinnacle ; during 
which time they erected their tabemade, num- 
bcfred their people, and regulated their order of 
march, and (had they listened to the gracious 
encouragement given in the 8th verse of our 
chapter, *^ Go ye in and possess the land which 
the Lord sware unto your fathers,") might have 
been in the space of one short month established 
residents in the land of promise. But distrust 
and disobedience frustrated God's gracious de- 
signs, and deprived all that generation (Moses 
not excepted) of their share in the earthly Ca- 
naan. These things were written for our instruc- 
tion, to whom is held out, by the same God, a 
" better country, even an heavenly." Did you 
observe, as you went along, the affecting ejacula- 
tion which Moses utters, when alluding to the 



MCmNING SIXTEENTH. 193 

great number of his people^ and his incapacity 
" to^^bear them all alone ?" 

Mary. Oh I yes ; " The Lord God of your 
fathers make you a thousand times so many more 
as you are, and bless you, as he hath promised 

you I" 

Mama. Besides the ardent patriotism implied 
in these words, the occurrence of them and many 
similar apostrophes, lends to this book of Deu- 
teronomy almost the charm of personal commu- 
nication with the venerable patriarch, instead of 
a dry written record. At the same time, this very 
conversational nature, and our previous acquaint- 
ance with the transactions to which it refers, will 
give to our remarks on it somewhat of the same 
desultory irregular character. Instead of follow- 
ing the recapitulation as minutely as we did the 
former narrative, we will content ourselves with 
dwelling on its more prominent features ; and 
above all, appropnating, if possible, to our own 
improvement, their moral application. 

When you read over just now the account 
given here of the disgraceful rebellion on the 
return of the spies, did you observe the omission 
of any particular related in Numbers ? 

Mary. Stay, let me see. Yes, Mama, Moses 
never says a word here of God' offering to discard 
the Jews, and make of him a " great nation'* 



194 M0BN1N09 WITH MAMA. 

instead. That was pretty of liim, and like bint^- 
self. 

Mama. Yes ; affection induces him now, on 
his death- bed, as it were, to suppress a mortifying^ 
&ct, which truth did not allow him to omit re^. 
cording at the time. Why does he allege at the 
27th verse, that the people <' murmured in. their 
tents ?" 

Mary. For too foolish a reason. Mama, as 
well as sinfol ! They said God brought them 
out of Egypt '* because he hated them, and to 
destroy them." How could they either, think or 
say so? 

Mama. Just, my dear, as many, whom Grod 
sent his only Son to die for and redeem, not only 
doubt his love, but actually choose to be objects 
of his wrath and aversion I Some — ^like the Israel- 
ites—to avoid making the exertions which an ad- 
mission of God's readiness to assist them wotdd 
render indispensable ; and others, from a guilty 
despondence, and low estimate of the value of 
that blood of atonement which is able to cleanse 
<< from all sin." How did Moses rebuke this 
unpardonable cowardice in the Israelites ? 

Mary. <^ Dread not, neither be afraid of 
them. The Lord your God which goeth before 
you, He shall fight for you." 

Mama. And for us too, Mary, if we go for- 

6 



MORNING SIXTEENTH. 1 9S 

ward in his strength. By what affecting com* 
parison does Moses set forth His long-suffering ? 

Mary. " The Lord thy God bare thee, as 
a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye 
went. Yet in this thing did ye not believe the 
Lord your God." 

Mama. Aye, Mary, there lay the root of the 
evil; in the unbelief which made alike thethreat- 
enings of God and his promises of ^' none effect " 
in the wilderness. Did the rebellion of the Is- 
raelites affect none but its own guilty participft- 
tors? 

Mary* Moses says, << God was angry with 
him for their sakes, and would not let him go in 
thither." I don't exactly see what they had to 
do with it. 

Mama. We have the Psalmist's authority^ 
(as well as Moses' own former account of the 
transaction,) for ascribing to their continued pnv 
vocation, that ^< speaking unadvisedly with his 
lips at the waters of strife," which occasioned his 
exclusion from Canaan. Have you ever thought^ 
Mary, how, by exasperating the evil tempers, or 
even severely trying the patience of those with 
whom you have to do — ^you could become a par- 
taker in the faults to which your own unreasona* 
bleness gave rise ? It is very wrong, even on 
any provocation, to lose sight of Christ\»»\2L^gsQ^« 



196 MOBNIMOS WITH MAMA. 

tleness, but in this as in many other cases, we 
may say, << Woe unto him by ivhom the offence 
cometh." 

What portion of the generation who offended 
God, were exempted from the sentence of exclu- 
sion ? 

Mary. <' Their little ones/' whom they had 
said << should be a prey.'* 

Mama. And for what reason ? 
• Mary. '< Because in that day they had no 
knoivledge between good and eviL'* 

Mama. A title to exemption which none but 
in&nts so circumstanced can ever plead. What 
is said in the Gospel, Mary, of such as we, who 
f< know our Master's will, and do it not ?** 

Mary. They " shall be beaten with many 
stripes ;" but it even says, " he who knew it not, 
shall be beaten with few." That seems hard — 
harder than God showed himself in Old Testa- 
m^nt times ! 

Mama. Because, my dear, in the Gospel 
times in which we live, and among Christian na- 
tions, nearly all ignorance on the great points of 
ikith and duty must be more or less wilful. 
Where it is involuntary. He who graciously ex- 
cepted the << little ones '' of Israel from a nation's 
rejection, and spared Nineveh for the sake of its 
infant population, will, we may believe, remit (for 



M0BNIN6 SIXTEENTH. 19? 

the sake of Him who was <' wounded for our 
transgressions *') even the " few stripes " of the 
unconscious offender. 

What ignominious circumstance does Moses 
say accompanied the Israelites' wilful determina- 
tion to £ght, after they were abandoned by their 
God? 

Mary. '^ The Amorites chased them as bees 
do." This was not to be wondered at ; but, Ma- 
ma, I wonder why, when " they returned and 
wept before the Lord," He would not hear them? 

Mama. A double and awfiil lesson is con- 
tained in these words; and I am glad they 
awakened your attention. In the first place, the 
tears of Israel were probably extorted by defeat 
and worldly mortification, rather than any true 
penitence and regard for displeasing God. But 
even had it been otherwise — ^it is the awfiil ten- 
dency of all Scripture admonitions to remind us, 
that there Is a period beyond which the abused 
long-sufPering of God may be invoked in vain. 
Though the cases of the labourers called at the 
<< eleventh hour," and of the thief on the cross, 
are designed to obviate despair, what does the 
Gospel say happened, while the <^ foolish virgins," 
who had too late awaked, went to provide them- 
selves with oil ? 

Maby. " The door waa shut," 



198 MOBNINOS WITH MAMA. 

Mama. Awftil words I when we consider the 
eternity to which they relate I And was it opened 
on their clamorous supplication ? 

Mary. No, no; they were shut out for 
ever. 

Mama. So will it be with many who have 
trifled with their day of grace and ample oppor- 
tunities. Let us beware lest we increase the un- 
happy number. 

What did we remariL* of the transaction to 
which the second of our chapters refers, between 
Israel and his brethren the children of Esau ? 

Mary. That God would not give Israel a 
^' footbreadth of their land," because of his pro^ 
mise to Esau. 

Mama. And why were the Ammonites not to 
be " distressed ?" 

Mary. On account of their good forefather 
Lot. 

Mama. Tliis was surely ^* showing me;rcy on 
thousands of them that love him and keep his 
commandments." But as Esau had no ^ch daim 
on God's forbearance towards his descendante, 
we must look, in their case, for another motive^ 
viz. the respect of " Him who cannot Ke " for his 
own immutable pronkise. 

What gracious purpose towards His people 
does he resume, when the whole generation who 



MORNING SIXTEENTH.' 199 

had distrusted Him were consumed and dead ? 
You will find it at the 25th verse. » 

Mary. " This day will I begin to put the 
dread of thee, and the fear of thee, upon the na/- 
tions." 

Mama. Had we any remarkable instance of 
this lately ? 

Mary. Oh I yes; in the history of Balak, 
which we read yesterday. He was horribly 
frightened, for, though God did not intend Israd 
to <' distress Moab,*' I suppose he did not know it 

Mama. Yet Sihon, who had much more real 
reason to be alarmed, chose to fight, though Mou- 
ses had sent him ^^ a message of peace." Such 
is the inconsMency of the wicked ; at one time 
:alarmed, << wiiere no fear is," at another rushing 
with headlong fury (as the prophet sublimely ex- 
presses it) ^ on the thick bosses of the buckler 
of the Almighty." 

Mary. Mama, I am glad you explained to 
me about God hardening Pharaoh's heart, be** 
cause it says here again that He made ** Sihon's 
heart obstinate." 

Mama. I am glad you remarked the simila* 
rity of the cases. Both, being incorrigible offend- 
ers, were abandoned to their own evil passions 
of pride and obstinacy ; and thus unconsciously 
fulfilled God's sentence gone out a%«k!k&\.\^'^\SL. 



200 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

Mart. But the << little ones " of Sihon's king- 
dom were not spared. I wonder why ? 

Mama. In reading the history of the Ca- 
naanites, we must always remember, that these 
intolerably wicked nations were intended to be 
utterly swept from the earth which their crimes 
had long polluted; and that God's object in 
making use of the sword of the Israelites, instead 
of a plague or an earthquake, (in which you 
know all ages are, even among ourselves, alike 
inyolved,) was precisely to give them, by that 
pain^l office of extermination, such a deep-root- 
ed and enduring horror of idolatry, as no milder 
spectacle of punishment would have sufficed to 
produce. Besides, experience sadly proved, that 
whenever they took upon themselves to exercise 
mistaken mercy towards any of their heathen 
neighbours, their own Mi into the same sins was 
the in&Uible consequence. 

What other king's overthrow does the third 
.chapter we have glanced over conmiemorate ? 

Mary. Og, king of Bashan, " who only re- 
mained of the remnant of the giants," though the 
cowardly Israelites chose to think there were a 
great many. How odd that he should have 
had an iron bed-stead I 

Mama. Beds of brass or iron are not un-^ 
common in hot countries, as a defence against in- 



MOBNING SIXTEENTH* 201 

sects, and some of silver aini gold, as well as 
ivory, are mentioned in ancient authors. But do 
you know how large (in our measure,) this bed 
actually was, which is said to have been nine cu-^ 
bits by four ? 

Mary. No, Mama. 

Mama. I will tell you its size, viz. fifteen feet 
long, by six or seven wide, — that I may, at the 
same time, give you the simple explanation, 
which, if a moment considered, would have saved 
a world of light profane scoffing on the supposed 
fabulous stature of the giant king of Bashan. 
People of rank in the east, (whose customs hap* 
pily for the elucidation of Scripture remain un- 
changed even now,) both sit during the day and 
eleep at night on raised platforms called "^^ beds '' 
or " divans," occupying often a large part of the 
iioor of the apartment, and bearing to the size of 
their dignified occupants no more proportion 
than perhaps the king of Bashan's did to his, — - 
though it is certain his stature was extraordi- 
nary, else it would not have been mentioned here. 
Bear in mind, my dear child, if at any time you 
hear that Scripture has been cavilled at and 
doubted — ^that nine-tenths of the sneers and ob- 
jections of its infidel opposers are as puerile in 
themselves and as easily confuted, as this of the 
bed of Rabbath. 



203 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

Our day's reading concludes with the painful 
but instructive record of the fruitless pleading of 
even Moses, the servant of God, for the reversal 
of the sentence which the contumacy of the an- 
cestors of those he was now addressing had 
brought down on his head. We learn from this, 
that while spiritual blessings follow fervent prayer 
so certainly as to make neglect in asking them a 
species of self-murder — ^remission of temporal evils 
by no means always ensues in the case of the most 
privileged suppliants. The unremoved <^ thorn in 
the flesh " of Paul, and the unfulfilled aspirations 
of Moses after Canaan, are recorded for this very 
purpose ; and when in our own afflictions, relief 
is, in the decrees of Him who cannot err, de- 
nied, — let us reverently adopt the counsel of the 
Almighty himself to the sorrowing petitioner 
here: " Let it suffice thee, speak no more to 
me of this matter ;"-*and resign ourselves in this, 
as in every part of our temporal condition, to the 
wisdom of One who knows, and knows only, 
^* what is good for man all the days of his vain 
life, which be spendeth as a shadow." 



208 



MORNING SEVENTEENTH. 
Lesson. — Deuteronomy, Chapters iv. and v. 

Mama. I know not, my dear Mary, whether 
in reading over the many admirable precepts by 
which gratitude to God, and obedience to His 
laws, are in these chapters enforced on the Is- 
raelites — ^you observed the injunction with which 
the first of them is ushered in, against ** adding 
to or diminishing aught" of the ** word" thus 
recapitulated by Moses ; the literal fulfilment of 
which by the Jews forms so remarkable a con- 
trast with that proneness to disobedience by 
which every page of their history is, more or less, 
unhappily marked. 

The unadulterated preservation of the Hebrew 
Scriptures to our own day, amid rebellion, apos- 
tacy, and dispersion, is not among thejeast won- 
derful of the miracles which stamp the whole 
Jewish dispensation with the finger of God. And 
perhaps no means but those adopted in Utet^ 



204 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

compliance with the injunction above mentioned, 
could have secured against the bare possibility 
of alteration in later and more corrupt times, the 
moral precepts which still govern the conduct, 
and the precious promises and predictions which 
yet support and confirm the faith of the Christian 
world. Do you know what those singular means 
were ? 

Mary. No, Mama. How could they pre- 
vent words being put in or taken out, if their 
scribes and learned people chose ? 

Mama. I will tell you. With labour and 
ingenuity we might style misdirected, had the re- 
sult (as overruled by God), been less eminently 
beneficial, — ^they early counted not only the verses 
but the words of which these Scriptures were 
composed; formed tables containing the initial 
letters of each paragraph, the number of time* 
each single word occurred in the text, and the 
precise order of it, taken from both the begin- 
Hing and end of the book in which it occurred, — 
so that any interpolation, however slight, wa* 
liable to instant detection among a people, whose 
minute acquaintance with the letter of their Di^ 
vine law was a perpetual rebuke on their fre- 
quent disregard of its spirit. 

To this apparently puerile anxiety about words 
and syllaWes, (originating in the precept of 



MORNING SEVENTEENTK. 20S 

Moses,) do we probably owe the descent to our 
day of those prophecies of a suffering Saviour, 
and the nature of His spiritual kingdom, which 
the pride and self-righteousness of the Scribes 
and Pharisees would perhaps otherwise have 
swept from the records, as their glosses and tra- 
ditions served to obliterate them from the minds 
of their countrymen. 

But by what yet more important practical ex- 
hortation does Moses follow up his command re- 
specting the letter of God*s statutes and judg- 
ments, as rehearsed by him to the Israelites ? 

Mary. " Keep therefore and do them, for 
this is your wisdom, and your understanding in 
the sight of the nations." — <^ For what nation is 
there so great, that hath statutes and judgments 
so righteous as all this law, which I set before you 
this day ?" 

Mama. Well might Moses, (in the name of 
the Divine Lawgiver), ask this triumphant ques- 
tion ! And before concluding our review of his 
writings, I hope to furnish you with its ample 
solution, by pointing out to you a few only of 
those <^ righteous judgments ** and enactments, 
distinguished alike for equity and mercy, which 
raise the law of Moses as high above mere hu- 
man institutions, as its great Author is exalted 
above the deities of paganism. 

T 



206 MOBNINQS WITH MAAa. 

What portion of their law is, in the mean time, 
recalled to their more special remembrance ? 

Mary. What they heard << standing before 
God in Horeb." That means the Ten Com- 
mandments, does it not ? 

Mama. Yes, Mary, that moral law which 
Christ came not to ^^ take away but fulfil ;* and 
whose inmiutable obligation, (typified by its in- 
scription with the " finger of Grod " on tables of 
stone), has survived the abolition of the whole ' 
Jewish temporary economy. How does Moses 
skilfully draw from the circumstances of its de- 
livery a caution against idolatry ? 

Mary. " Take therefore good heed to your- 
selves, for ye saw no manner of similitude on the 
day the Lord spake out of Horeb.'' Mama, how 
odd and needless it seemed to warn them against 
making an idol like a creeping thing or a fish I 
How could it occur to any one that people would 
think so meanly of God ? 

Mama. Such degrading conceptions would 
indeed appear impossible, did we not know that 
they abounded in heathen idolatry. But, re- 
member, Mary, that though we no longer wor- 
ship our Creator under the visible shape of the 
meanest of His works, the propensity to lower 
Him to our own corrupt level is as strong and 
fatal as ever. It is easy to sneer, in the mistaken 



M0BNIN6 SEITENTEENTH. 207 

pride of our hearts, at the reptile gods of Egypt, 
but methinks there is something more rational 
and elevating at least, in the error (also here 
guarded against) of those heathen nations who 
worshipped their Creator under the symbol of 
that sun ^* walking in brightness/' whose benefi- 
cial activity ages have not sufficed to impair, nor 
revolutions to incline from its steadfast course, — 
than in that of the nominal Christian, who sets 
up for himself a God with more than the weak- 
nesses of humanity, — One who can be offended 
with impunity, and " mocked" without resent- 
ment, — ^who (like the idols of old) ^^hath eyes and 
seeth not," — " who saith and it is * not * done,'* 
and ** threateneth and it shall < not ' come to 
pass!" 

But if even this primitive and most natural 
form of idolatry God has, we know, expressly 
reprobated, as estranging the soul from the great 
source of light and life, how can it be thought 
He will tolerate that more insidious modem 
" will-worship" which exalts the attribute of 
mercy at the expense of His other perfections, 
and still makes ^< God" (as was the pernicious 
tendency of too many heathen superstitions) the 

« Author of sin?" 

By what strong expression does Moses sum up 
his exhortations against idolatry^ awd ^<(>pct^^* 



208 MOBNINGS WITH MAMA. 

rate the view I have given of the existence of 
Jehovah's more awful attributes ? 

Mary. ** For the Lord thy God is a con- 
suming fire, even a jealous God." But this was 
in Old Testament times, Mama. You have often 
told me he is to Christians a Grod of love. 

Mama. And, blessed be His name I my child, 
I told you so truly. But— as we all fail in re- 
marking — he is unchangeable also ; and the same 
" God who was in Christ reconciling the world 
unto Himself ere Adam had sinned or Moses 
wrote — must retain His holy hatred against ehi, 
till, in his awful character of a ^^ consuming fire," 
He has swept it from creation with the << breath 
^f his coming" to judgment. Nothing in this 
world is so calculated to deepen our sense of 
God*s love, as high and adequate conceptions of 
His justice and holiness. Why then do Christ- 
ians lose sight, in the " infinite compassion " of 
their heavenly Master, of the thunders of His 
omnipotence ; or forget that He who is " mighty 
to save," must necessarily be also mighty to 
punish? If God had not loved sinners, Christ 
had not died. This the Christian believes, and re- 
joices. If God had not hated sin, Christ had not 
died. This he believes, and trembles I 

But by what temporal threatenings does Moses 



MORNING SEVENTEENTH. 209 

(speaking to a worldly aud carnal people) enforce 
his warnings against idolatry ? 

Mary. He says, when they made images in 
their own land, they should " utterly perish** 
from off it, and be scattered among the nations. 

Mama. All of which was literally ftilfilled. 
But in what singular manner was their sin to be 
there made their punishment ? 

Mary. They were to serve Gods therey " the 
work of man's hands,'' which neither hear, nor 
eat, nor smell." 

Mama. That is, do reluctantly, at the bid- 
ding of foreign tyrants, what at home they had 
done of their own free will, and out of wanton 
disobedience. Do you remember any remark- 
able instance in the Bible, where such a com- 
mand of a heathen prince was resisted by Jewish 
captives ? 

Mary. No, Mama. 

Mama. What I have you forgotten the three 
children thrown into the fiery fdmace? How 
had they incurred that dreadful sentence ? 

Mary. Oh ! How foolish of me to forget I 
For refusing to worship Nebuchadnezzar's great 
image which he had set up. But Grod preserved 
them. There was << not a hair of their heads 
singed." 

Mama. I am glad you rememWt^^ VJwa^.\*^ 



210 l^;0RNIN08 WITH MAMA. 

is an encouragement to God's servants in all 
ages. But what merciful promise is made in our. 
chapter by Him " who delighteth in mercy" — to 
even sinners, among the outcibits of Israel ? 

Mary. That if they turned to God, and. 
sought Him with their whole heart and soul, 
*^ He would not forsake theni, nor forget Hk 
covenant which He sware unto their fathars." 

Mama. And observe how the pious gratis 
tude of Moses here breaks out into a noble reca« 
pitulation of all the mighty works by which God 
had *' taken a people for Himself out of tiie midst 
of another people ;*' and appeals to heaven and 
earth whether it was n6t a thing unprecedented 
since the world began. But what is the grand 
and salutary conclusion drawn by this admirable 
teacher from the whole ? 

Mary. " Know therefore this day, and cJon- 
sider in thine heart, that the Lord He is God in 
heaven above and upon the earth beneath-^there 
is none else*" 

Mama. What pecuKarly merciful provision 
of the law of Moses occurs in this chapter, which, 
as standing apart from the others I shall one 
day point out to you — we may consider now ? 

Mary. He " severed three cities for those 
to flee unto, who killed their neighbour una-> 
wares," This was very kind. 



MOBNINQ SEVENTEGNTH. 211 

Mama. Peculiarly so, in tU9ea when retalia- 
tion was permitted, and even tl^ merci&l law of 
Moses allowed an " ^ye for an eye, aad a tpotbt. 
for a tooth ;'' and when the feelings of r^ticNis' 
might be too much excited to admit of dispassion* 
ate inquiry into the ciFcumstance& of the ease-^ 
while the confinement of the manslayer io his 
^* city of refuge" secured society against his ^ 
tal recklessness, and kept him under/the eye ^ 
those who would naturally be .jfealous of jns 
future conduct. ? . • . , .; i 

On the fifth chapter, admirable as it is, our 
recent minute examination of the Ten Command- 
ments, which it recites, leaves us little room for 
present commentary. May the Lord seal on 
your heart, my child, these never to be forgotten 
rules of life I And as a means far more persua^ 
sive than any I can use for doing so — repeat me 
that Lord's own expression of benevolent desire 
for the welfare, not of Israel only, but of that 
*< seed" whom " He hath chosen for Himself, 
out of all people, and nations, and languages." 
What says the twenty-ninth verse ? 

Mary. '< Oh I that there were such an heart 
in them that they would fear me, fmd keep all 
my commandments always, that it might be well 
with them and with their children for ever I" 

Mama. Does not your heart glow, my chLLdU 



212 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

as you read these touching words of Omnipotence 
—of ^^ Him who wills not that any should perish, 
but that all should come to everlasting life?" 
To add to them would be unnecessary— 4ilmo6t 
impious. Let them sink deep into your heart, 
and persuade you, with an eloquence far above 
all human teaching, to beware how you " grieve" 
that '^ Holy Spirit/' who — one with the Father 
in His nature and attributes — is still more identi- 
fied with Him in love for the souls, and care for 
the immortal destinies of men I 



213 



MORNING EIGHTEENTH. 

Lesson. — Deuteronomy, Oiapters vi* vii. and viii. 

Mama. The leading object of Moses in th^ 
chapters we have just read, being to dissuade his 
countrymen from idolatry, and enforce by every 
imaginable motive of love, admiration and gratis 
tude, the reverence and worship of Jehovah — he 
very naturally pre&ces his exhortations by a so- 
lemn declaration of that unity and majesty of 
God, the recognition of which he might well 
suppose not only the best, but an in&Ilible anti- 
dote against all the degradations and abomina- 
tions of surrounding heathenism. That it proved 
otherwise is surely not attributable to any want 
of precision or sublimity in tlie declaration itself, 
or of cogency in the injunction to love that 
" Lord" exclusively, with which it was followed 
up. Repeat them, my dear, to engrave on your 
own memory a different, and in our days more 
essential truth, viz. that the Jehovah here de- 
scribed, and truly, as ^' One Lord," is the same, 
who " was in Christ reconciling the world unto 



214 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

Himself;" and see i^ from this consideration, the 
exhortation of Moses to ^* love Him with all the 
heart and soul and strength," does not derive to 
the ear of a Christian tenfold force and obliga- 
tion. It was the ** Lord" who created and pre- 
served them whom the Israelites were called on 
thus to love. It is the <^ Lord" who made, re- 
deemed and sanctified us, at whose ** name every 
knee should bow,** and every heart glow through- 
out ^e Christian world. 

By what means were this knowledge and love 
of God in the heart to be perpetuated among the 
Israelites? 

Mary. By ^' teaching them diligently to their 
children, and talking of them sitting in the house, 
and walking by the way ; lying down and rising 
up ;" just as you have done to me. Mama, ever 
since I can remember. 

Mama. Yes, my child, and with God's own 
authority for it, and blessing on my endeavours 
— I humbly hope not altogether in vain. We call 
that mother unnatural, who neglects to supply 
the temporal wants of her offspring ; the Word 
of God, you see, leaves her still more inexcusa- 
ble, who gives them not in *^ due season " that 
spiritual nurture which He himself has graciously 
condescended to provide. I think I have told 
jroa how the ignorant Jews degraded by a literal 



MORNING EIGHTEENTH. 215 

fulfilment the divine injunction here given. How" 
was it? 

Mary. Oh I by actually writing the words 
of God on bits of parehm^it, and tying them on 
their hands and foreheads^ as if that could make 
them better. You told me the wicked Pharisees 
wore them so, and I am sure it did them no 
good. Did they write them on their houses and - 
gate-posts too ? 

Mama. Yes— not openly, to avoid possible 
pro&nation — but enclosed in little cases, and" 
placed near the knockers of their doors, that they 
might often touch and kiss them. How little 
connexion mere external symbols have with the ' 
essentials of heart-reHgioa^ their history may suf- 
fice to teach us ; though, as remembrancers, 
(which we all need so much), they might not be ' 
altogether without use. But from what future' 
state of their afiairs does the wise lawgiver of 
Israel anticipate most danger to rdigion among ' 
his countrymen ? 

Mary. He was afraid that when God had 
given them every thing, they should forget Him ; 
surely this was not likely. 

Mama. Not only likely, but true, Mary ; 
nor, alas I is the hardening and corrupting in- 
fluence of prosperity on the human character 
confined to the history of Israel* W^ Qi\xt^«3^^%^^ 



316 MORKIMOS WFTH MAMA. 

Mary, are the ungrateful children of many mer-' 
cies — ^the heedless partakers of a course of na^ 
tional benefits as runparalleled as, I fear, our 
puBishment for their abuse m^y yet become ! 
From this cbeplorable fiorgetfuhiess Moses men- 
tions but two preservatives, — ^the fear and service 
ei God ; and how much both are declining among 
ourselves, the most thoughtless cannot but per- 
ceive — and tremble. 

What motive of interest, as well as duty, is 
mentioned here, common to us with the children^ 
€>f Israel ? 

Mart. It says, God '<<;ommanded us to fear 
the lioidforour good always." 

Mama. Aiui truly will it be " for our good " 
if we obey the beneficent eommand of Him who, 
in all. his requirements, has in view for us, not 
Bfterely those temporal advantages which were 
held out as the reward of Jewish obedience, but 
the eternal ^^ good '* of our immortal souls. 

By what rigid precautions did Moses, in the 
following chapter, seek to ward ofi* from the 
Israelites all seductions to idolatry ? 

Mary. He bade them utterly destroy the 
nations God should . cast out before them, and 
make no covenants or marriages with them. 

Mama. And why was this latter article par- 
tloalariy insisted on ? 



MOBNINa EI6IlT£ENtH« 2l7 

MarIt, " Because they will turn away thy 
son from following meJ* 

Mama. It would be well if such salutary 
caution extended, in our own days, to the pre- 
vention of rash connexions ; for what says an 
Apostle ? " Be not unequally yoked together 
with unbelievers ;" and the number of those who 
are practically such is, alas I still alarmingly 
gi^at. 

But, lest the Israelites should be elated by the 
success given them by a higher Power, and the 
epithet of " holy people" applied to them by* 
Moses, how does he humblingly recal their ori-' 
ginal insignificance ? 

Mary. " Ye were the fewest of all peoole ;'* 
and tjo they were once. Mama. You know, only 
*' seventy souls" went with Jacob into Egypt. 

Mama. Well remembered; but even this wad 
a great increase, — ^for when God chose Abraham 
and his seed for ever, to be '< as the sand on the 
sea shore for multitude," he had not even a child 
to be the heir of promise ; so little does Grod de- 
pend on human means or probabilities for success 
in His designs. 

We will not at present notice the temporal 
blessings and curses with which obedience is en- 
forced and rebellion threatened in this chapter, 

^>ecause in a future one we shall find them y^^ 

u 



fil9 B^0fU4INO8 WITH MAMA* 

more distinctly and fearfully coD4»rasted; but 
couple with God*s denunciations^of vengeaaoe on 
tbe idolatrous nations before enumerated, his- 
gracious veas^* for exterminatiiig tliem by de« 
greesy and not immediately. What was it» Mary ? 
• Mary. Lest the beasts of the field ^oukL iu- 
fsrease upon' the Israelites. 

Mama. Yes; and completely is the necessity 
of the merci^l precaution eorroborated by later 
travellers. One of them says^ the oouatry once 
so fertile, but now once more diepopalaited, << about 
Cana in Galilee, swarm» with tigers^ leepard^^ 
and jackals, whose bowlings would sMke the 
boldest traveller (not inured to them}^ i^ith the* 
deepest sense of horror." How remarkably this' 
state of things confirms the prophecies regarding 
the desolation of Judea, we need not now stay to< 
remark. But remember, it was only by felling 
at l^igth into the sins of the Canaanites, that 
their eonqiierors beeame sharers in their punish- 
ment. 

. By what salutary eonstderatiens does Moses ib 
the 8th chapter, propose to guard Ids country- 
men against so great an evil ? 

Mary. He bade them remember ihaM GocC 
^f led them forty years in the wilderness, to hum- 
hie them and prove them* and fed them with 
^SABJ^ which their fathers knew not." 



MORNING BI<}HTBBNT&. 219 

Mama. And whal mi^t tliey haiFe learned 
from this miraculous support ? 

Mart. That << man dotk not lire by bread 
alone, but by every word that proeeedeth out of 
ihe mouth of God." 

Mama. Do you remember by wbom tkese 
remarkable words were quoted and applied ? 

Mary. Yes, Mama ; by our Lord in the de- 
sert, when Satan wanted iiim to turn the stoae*- 
into bread. I never knew till now in what part' 
.of the Bible the words were " written." 

Mama. And now that you do know, it will 
fielp you to see the force of o^r Lord's inference, 
4:hat He who bad sustained in (iie same wilder- 
ness a whole nation forty years without natumi 
bread, could as easily, In its abs^ice, support 
the strength of a single believing servant. 

Mary. Did the clothes of the Israelites really 
jiever gro^v old all that time ; or how were the^ 
children bom among them provided? 

Mama. The power of God supematurally to* 
xdothe as well as feed his people during their 
wanderings, none but an ipfi^el can question ; and 
thus has the text sometimes been literally inter- 
preted. But as (according to our Lord's appli- 
cation,) even bread itself could derive its nutri-* 
tious quality only from the blessing of God— so 
4;he raiment supplied, by wbfrtever saeans^ tA «^ 



220 MOBNINGS WITH MAMA. 

great nation in the desert, must have been due 
to the same Ahnighty provideuce. 
' But, Mary, let us obsenre the grand object 
bpth of God's merciful fmd ^ictive dealings ^ith 
the Israelites, viz. their fatherly chastisement sa^d 
training for his future service. Never let us for- 
get that Canaan, with all its riches and fertility, 
was a type of that << better ** land of whiph alone 
it can be said with perfept truth, that in it the 
Christian << shall i^ot lack anythizyg ;* ^d let us 
look on every event pf our pilgrimage towards 
it, as a pfurt of the discipline i^ecessary to fit us 
ftir our " Father's house." 

Did all the forty years' painful e^iiperience of 
the Israelites prove a more than sufficient pre- 
paration for the pierilous prosperity of their 
earthly rest? 

Mary. No, Miuna; in spite of it fdl, they 
•^ forgot God." 

Mama. While we bless His name that we 
cannot forget Him ip our heavenly home, let us 
beware lest we <^ fall short of it through unbeT 
lief," or contempt of the warnings so abundantly 
bestowed upon us in His word. 

What precept do/es Moses give on occasion of 
our partaking of God's bounty ? 

Mary. " When thou hast eaten and art full, 
tiwji thou shalt bles^ the Lord thy God." 



MORNING ElflHTEENTH. 22. 

Mama. On which text the laudable custom 
.t)f giving thanks at nxeals i$ thought (among the 
Jews at least) to have been founded. It is one, 
-at all events, which no Christian will feel dispo- 
sed to omit. 6\it what may be the state of the 
fieart» of thoee, who ey^n in wcxrds .acknowledge 
the "Giver of all good?" 

Mary. They may be " lifted up,'* Mama. 
Moses was afraid the Israelites would ,think that 
" their power and might had gotten theoi all the 
wealth of Canaan*" 

Mama. And what was p£edi<xted, ^d actji^* 
ally proyed to be, the leffect of s^ich gi^ihy ar- 
rogance and ingratitude ? 

Mary. They " should surely perisb, like the 
nations God had destroyed before their &oe ; ' 
and SQ it ha^pene^. Mama, just a9 Moses warned 
them. 

Mama. Let it warn ^s, my child, ff ^^ l#od 
spared not " his own chosen people fo|r t^e na-^ 
tional sins (^ pride and in#delity, what ground 
have Christiaos who fall into thfem, to hope for 
impunity, or exemption fixHn the sweeping and 
awful sentence, " The wicked shall be turned 
^nto h^ell, and all the nations that forget God T ^ 



222 



MORNING NINETEENTH. 



Lesson. — Deuteronomy, Chapters ix. x. and si. 



Mama. I think we may gather, my dear 
Mary, from the exhortation of Moses in these im- 
pressive chapters, that the existing generation of 
Israel, whose progenitors had forfeited Canaan 
by distrust and unbelief, — ^had more ne^ to be 
guarded against the opposite sins of pride and 
presumption ; since the same (enlightened moni- 
tor who on former occasions rebuked their exagr 
gerated fears of the " children of Anak," now sets 
before them, without disguise, the might and 
power of the cities, " great and fenced up to hea- 
ven," which they were about immediately to 
attack. Can you account for this change in the 
style of their paternal lawgiver, or in the temper 
of his hearers? 

Mary. Mama, I dare say it was because they 

had already killed Sihon and Og, and all their 

people, that they had grown proud, and needec) 



MORNINO NINETBKNTH. 023 

to be humbled. - Perhaps they forgot it was Gqd 
who fought for them. 

Mama. In all probability they did, else Mo? 
ses had not found it necessary to bid them '< un-r 
derstand that the Lord their God was He who 
went before them." 

But granting they had not lost sight of this 
great truth, from what other little less dangerous 
error does Moses strive to guard them ? 

Mary. . From speaking in their heart as if 
God had brought them in for their own righte- 
ousness. Mama, they qould not .well think that, 
when they had been kept out forty years just fo|r 
their wickedness I 

Mama* • Not the existing generation, .you will 
remember ; ^ho on this very favourable change 
in God*s dispensations towards themselves, per- 
haps, founded arrogant id^asof their own super 
rior merit and pretensions. These . it was un-r 
doubtedly necessary to qorrept, both for their 
own discipline and humiliatipn^ and for our edi^ 
fication who read their history ; one pf the great 
stumbling blocks in which, to the thoughtless In-, 
fidel, has ever been the signal unworthiness of 
the Jews to be objects of God-s distinguishing 
regard. Therefore it is that throughout the 
whole of these chapters, he so pointedly recapi- 
tulates the endless aiid unpardonable rebelliQusk 



224 M0BNIN08 WITH MAMiL. 

of their ancestcnrs ; which I scarcely tfaiul: hfi 
would have dwelt on in a parting and evidently 
affectionate address, had not overweening pride 
and self-confidence in their desoend^jQts, made it 
expedient to assnpe them — ^n the iviM»rd of one 
who knew and yet loved them, — tha^t they, like 
their fathers, were |i stiff-necked peo}>^. What 
reasons, then, utterly independent of personal 
merit in t^e instruments themselves, does Mose^ 
say moved God to destroy, by fjbi.ei^ me^s, the 
Canaanite nations ? 

Mary. First, the wicke4aess of tiiose Rock- 
ing people, M9.ma, ^d then that He might *^ p^r? 
form His word to Al^rah^m, Isaac, 9x16. Jacob/' 
But do you know? I lAiink it was h^rsh Ijjl Moses 
to reproach tjbe peopJie nbout the golden calf, an^ 
the murmuring «t Massijih, and t^e not believing 
the spies, when some of theip were hardly bom at 
the time it happened. 

Mama. Yoju aire amcoiWieiously -confirming 
my conjecture, that Moses perceived but too 
clearly, in the generation which had grown up 
before him, the leaven <3f the same sin which lost 
their parents' Canaan ; with a probable addition 
of self-righteousness in their supposed exemptiop 
from them. Alas ! Mary, human nature is ever 
the same under all circumstances ; and however 
the absence of temptation or opportunity may for 



MORNING NIN^EENTH, ^^25 

a time hide its sinfolaess froiQ ojUFselyes of o|her9» 
a change " from above " in its motives and pro-? 
pensitjes> can alone make any of us <' better than 
our fathers !'* But jthere is one remarkable cirir 
Cjamstance connected with the very harshness of 
rebuke you complain of, viz. the strong confirr 
mation it ajSbrds to the Divine . commission and 
supernatural authority of Moses. Would. aa old 
man, just sinking in^o.the grave, wjth nothing but 
hjaman good will and popularity to support him,, 
have disobliged his countrymen by so humbling a. 
picture .of their na^onal. character ? 

Mary, N/p, I ^parpely think he would. But 
though he. scolds them so mugh, you know he 
alw.ays prayed for them;.that would make up fop. 

it. ... 

Mama- Yes,. Mary, tha); he loyed them .in 
spite of their fatbits he shewed in a thousand. iur 
stances. But so far is he from making any merit 
with them of these .frequent mtercessions, (as.a^ 
ordinary man would have done,) that be uiuforn^r 
ly represents them as dictated far more by regard 
for the glory of Jehovah tjban . partiality to. l^is 
countrymen. Not pnce does this, intrepid ser^ 
vant of God attempt even to palliate^ their un- 
worthin.ess. It is for the sake of Abraham, pf 
I^aac, and pf J^cob, and still more fur the ho-^ 



226' ArOBNIJB^S WITH MAHl. 

nour of fhe Lord, th^t be pleads for their patrdom 
and continued preservation. 

But whajt a toiuchiDg air of sincerity does this 
very uncompromising integrity lend to the fre- 
quent bursts of affection and patriotism, sca^ttered 
through this most delightfid of the books of Mou- 
ses t Repeat me the beauti^l and truly Christiau 
nummary of duty and i^liglon with which (at the 
twelfth verse of o^r second chapter,) the reca- 
pitulation of God's ^ft-;re9ewetd lotpg-suffering i« 
fitly followed up. 

Maky^ << And, now, .9 latraell what doth the - 
Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the 
Lord thy God, to walk jp all His ways, and to 
love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with al) 
ithy heart and with all thy soul ?" 

Mama. And, Oh! my Christian child! if 
such things were ** required," and justly, of the 
wandering Israelite, as a return for the life, and 
food and raiment, — ^the guidance by day and pror 
tection by night, and other temporal blessings 
which, in these days of advanced ciyilization, 
you share with him in far lax^r measure, — how 
doubly are they incumbent on you, as a subject 
of Christ's kingdom of grace here, and an heir of 
his kingdom of glory hereafter. If the motives 
drawn by Moses, alternately from the grea^tnes$ 



KORNINO NIKETEENTH. 237 

ajtkd goodness of the God of the Jews, seem, as 
they do to every unprejudiced reader, abundant 
said irresistible, — why are the l&ousand-fold claims- 
of the God of the Christian so coldly admitted 
and so inadequately fulfilled ? Surely He who was 
the << praise and the God'^ of the Hebrews in the 
desert, should be our << song and oi&r joy in the 
house of our pilgrimage " here, as He will be of 
all the redeettied in the Canaan above I 

On the last of this day's chapters we shadl 
have the less occasion to enlarge at present, as 
the wholesome recapitulation with which it opens^ 
of the more awful judgments on Egypt, however 
necessary for the many who had not been their 
eye-witnesses, has been before dwelt on, and, we 
Kiay hope, not without advanti^e by ourselves^ 
But there is a peculiarity in the eontrast Moses 
draws between the country of their bondage 
and Canaan, which you must have observed, 
atid which I should like to hear if you understand. 

Mary. I know why Moses mentions that 
Canaan was a << land that drank water of the rain 
from heaven,*' because Egypt, you told me long 
ago, had no rains, and depended entirely on the 
Nile. But why does he say, that when they 
lived in that country, they << watered it withr 
their foot ?" 



228 ]ilORNtN€fS \fltH MAMA. 

Mama. Have you ever thought, since ybtk 
were* aware it had only the Nile to depend on, 
how it was- watiered &t all? Could the river 
run through every man's field and *^ garden of 
herbs?" 

Mary. No; I 'suppose they must have car* 
ried the water. 

Mama. If you tholight so — ^but I suspect you 
did not think at all — you would mdeed at once 
hftve fouiid sufficient employment *(\^ithout mak- 
ing bricks) for all' the countless multitude of 
Israelitish bondmen* ' But the thing would even 
then have befen impossible; How do you sup-^ 
pose it was managed ; and how came the land of 
Egypt, **■ that hath no rain," to be the granary of 
the civilized world ? 

Mary. • I am sure I don't know. 

Mama. I will tell you. The whole surface 
of the long narrow valley through which the 
Nile runs, and whr6h forms the cultivable part 
of Egypt, was ingeniously filled with canals or 
dit(^hes, from whence again multitudes of smaller 
rills intersected every spot of ground within them. 
Close to the river large reservoirs (or tanks, as 
they ai*e still called in the east) were dug, with 
which these canals communicated ; and whenever, 
from the rains in the mountains of Upper Egypt, 
the yearly rise of the Nile, on which the whole 



MORNING NTNETBENTR. 229 

asperity and vegetatioH ei the country de-* 

nded, took place, the water filled these reser-i' 

irs ; and for a long time afterwards, during the 

lole season required for thie -growth- of the 

ps, each husbandman drew from them, through 

several canals,, the moisture requisite for hid 

ched field or garden. 

vIary. I understand this, Mama; but hx)w 

he ** water them with his foot ?*' 

I AM A. There . are • two . • explanations given 

his remarkable expression. The .firsts that 

Egyptian gardener is still in the daily prac- 

of using his foot to close up with earth one 

le little rills leading to .his beds, €uid thus 

. rting .the water into another. The 43ecend» 

; in ancient Egypt a maehine or wheel with 

something resembling our tread-mtll, -was 

se for raising up water from the river — a 

« . ing of one of whioh, as now used in Chin% 

exactly corresponds with a description left us of 

the old Egyptian one. 

This has been a long digression ; but the con- 
trast between all this labour and fatigue, and 
the spontaneous fertility of Canaan, must have 
been striking to those of the Israelites who re-* 
membered it; and will not have been lost. on 
ourselves, if we pursue the parallel between 
their scanty supplies of spiritual refreshment^ 



290 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

and our copious access to the very ** wells of 
salvation.'' 

The contrasted blessings and curses with which 
our reading oondoded, we shall reserve for con- 
sideration in a future chaptter, of which they form 
the entire and memorable subject But while 
there they are enlarged on with a special minute- 
ness, which, by its wonderful subsequent fulfil- 
ment, may seem to timit them to the Jews,-— 
here, at least, all who ^ run may read " the sim- 
ple but awful truth, interesting alike to all the 
subjects of God^s government,—-^ Behold I set 
before you this day a blessing and a curse. A 
blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the 
Lord your God ; and a curse, if ye will not obey 
them, and turn aside out of the way which I 
command you this day." 



231 



MORNING TWENTIETH. 

Lesson. — Deuteronoaay, Chapters xii. xvL and xzri. 

Mama. Although it was no part of our plan 
at present, my dear Mary, to dwell minutely or 
iat length on the ceremonial observances peculiar 
to the Jews, yet I have thought &r too important 
to be omitted, the chapters forming this day'ft 
reading ; because in them you have recorded the 
leading and more spiritual features of the Mosaic 
ritual, accompanied with God's own reasons for 
itheir institution, ^d those moral inducements 
to their observance, of which the Christian no 
less than the Hebrew (indeed with infinitely 
greater clearness) must for ever acknowledge the 
propriety. Should it Bver be your &te to hear 
the rationality — nay, /even when rightly appre- 
hended — the spirituality x>f the Mosaic dispensa- 
tion called in jque8tiop->r-recollect the authorita- 
tive, the intelligible apjd persuasive manner in 
which the Almighty, in these chapters, asserts 
bis claim to the jreverjence, gratjitude^ 9nd <^W^- 



232 MO&NINGS iriTH MAtMA. 

dience of his ^chosen people, and ask yourself, ( 
those best aequainted with history, the triumph 
lant question of Moses, '^ What nation is there 
that hath God so nigh to them as the Lord oui 
God is in all things we call on him for? And 
what nation is tiiere so gpreat, that hath statu :;^ 
and judgments so righteous as all these which 
set before you t^is day ?.'* 

What do we iind the first and indispensable 
preliminary to the appointment of- regular wor- 
ship in the promised land ? 

. Maby. Utterly destroying all the places where 
the wicked iCanaanites had served their goda. 
Mama, you. told me why the .heathen chose 
groves to hide their cruel worship in ; but whal 
jmade them so fond.of temples upon hills ? . . 

.Mama. A heatheji author has supplied as 
with the answer. He says,.** They were then. 
;aearer the gods, and more easily obtained 4 
Rearing." 

Mary. Oh I Mama^ lyhat a foolish notion I 
But as Christ prayed in a grov^e, and the temple 
of Jerusalem was set on a hill, I suppose there 
was nothing ii^ itself wrong in either. 

Mama, Certainly not. . All parts of God» 
^niverse are alike consecrated to the service of 
their Creator; and the silent wood and lofty 
n^ountam have a fitness of their own (far removed 



M0RNIN!9 TWENTIETH. 238 

from the ^^ vain knagiQ^ion^ " of the keathe^) 
for the worship of the heait. But what precau- 
tion did << He who l^new whait; was in man " take 
against the lingering superstition of *' groves ^ 
and << high places " among the Jews ? 

Mary. They were all to bring their burnt- 
offerings to the place God should <* choose, to 
put his name there, and eat and rejoice before 
Him." Was it not a long way for some of them 
to drive their cattle and sheep to Jerusalem? 
How did they manage ? 

Mama* Not only were those at a great dis- 
tance allowed to turn into money the actual first- 
lings of their flocks, and purchase others at Jeru- 
salem, but (the blood alone being as a type of 
the atonement, expressly reserved by God) every 
Israelite might kill and eat in his own gates, all 
parts of his herds and flocks ; except such free- 
will offerings as the prevention of Idolatry abso- 
lutely required to be kept sacred to the one true 
God, and sacrificed on His sole altar. Do you 
remember what occurred the moment this wise 
•enactment was dispensed with by Jeroboam ? 

Mary. Oh I yes ; ten tribes left God for his 
golden calves ; and as the true priests would not 
leave Jerusalem, he made others, and even offer- 
ed sacrifice himself. 



234 MOBNING9 WITH MAMA. 

Mama. Anjd what moral consequences inevi- 
tably ien8ue4 ? 

-Mary. He. and liis people grew, wickeder 
apd wiekedeir ; and- forgot Gk)d more than the 
other tribes who still went to. the place of His 
appointment. 

Mama. And such would be the infallible 
consequence, even in our times, of every man 
worshipping God *' as it seemed right in his own 
eyes/' instead of a lio]y conformity to . the ap- 
pointed means of grace. But instead of its being 
(as some love to. represent it) a burdensonje. im- 
position for the Jqw to bring thrice a-year before 
God the living fruits of the abundance with 
which He had been pleased to crown his .labours* 
it s^ems to me a most cheerful. and benevolent 
institution. How likely to cement private friend- 
ship and national unio.n> was the provision thus 
graciously n^ade, for a feast of love and xejoicing^ 
in the immediate presence of Him, whoi^e bounty 
spread the table, and whose blessing hallowed the 
repast I Well had it been for the Jews had the 
solemn injunction, '^ Take heed that thou . offer 
pot thy burnt-offerings in every place thou seest," 
been strictly observed I The high hills and green 
trees of Israel could never have been again pol- 
luted by idolatry, nor would years of captivity 



MORNING TWENTIETH, 235 

and suffering have been required, to vindicate 
the insulted majesty of Jehovah. 

The second of our chapters (the 16th) will in-r 
form us more minutely of the grounds and nature 
of the three great festivals, on which every male 
of the Hebrews (not disabled by infirmity) was 
required to appear and rejoice before God. 
Which stood first in order of these joyful solem-* 
nitles ? 

Mary. The. Passover, Mama. I suppose it 
came first, because bringing them out of Egypt 
was the first great thing God did for the Jews. 

Mama. Well observed ; and, besides, like the 
deliverance it commemorated, it occurred iu 
spring. You already know from what merciful 
preservation of the first-bom of Israel, its name 
of " Passover " was derived ; but why is it also 
called the " the feast of unleavened bread ?" 

Ma r y. Because of the haste the people were 
in when they left Egypt, which would not allow 
tjiem time for leavening their dough. I am sure 
the Israelites must have kept this feast with all 
their, hearts, when they thought of their hard- 
ships in Egypt and happiness in Canaan I 

Mama. How then should " Christ our Pass- 
over," be commemorated by every grateful Chris- 
tiun heart, when the degradation of man's fallen 
cirudition is viewed in contrast with his purchased 



236 M0RNINO6 WITH MAMA. 

hopes, as an heir of glory and immortality ! By 
choosing the same month and day, nay, the same 
hour, even the *< going down of the sun " for his 
expiatory sacrifice, the ** Lamb of God " has for 
ever appropriated and hallowed to himself this 
one of the three ancient festivals ; as we shall 
find to have been the case with the second, by 
another person of the blessed Trinity. 

How was the next in order of the ** solemn 
assemblies *' denominated and observed ? 

Mary. It was called the '< feast of weeks,** 
and was to be kept with *' a tribute of a free-will 
offering," according as God hath blessed them, 
and they were to rejoice again before Him. 

Mama. Was it only the rich and prosperous, 
with their households, who were to obey this 
gracious command ? 

Mary. No, Mama ; ** the stranger and the 
fatherless, and the widow." How good of God, 
to think of and provide for them I 

Mama. And what a lesson to the wealthy 
among ourselves, to make our abundance, and its 
attendant blessings, reach those, who, instead of 
being forgotten (as some suppose) in the fatherly 
distributions of our common Parent, are but con- 
signed as a sacred trust to us his stewards ; of 
whom He will rigidly require not only their bare 
support, but; as far as in us lies, attcutiou to their 



MORNING TWENTIETH. 23? 

comfort, and interest in their happiness! The 
Israelite, might not rejoice alone> ^' because he 
had been a bondman in Egypt." Dares the 
Christian selfishly enjoy, while his brother, one 
equally with himself, the <^ ransomed of the Lord," 
goes " mourning all the day long," for want of 
that pittance of temporal goods, which would 
enrich the one, without impoverishing the other ? 

Had this " feast of weeks," so called because 
seven of these were to elapse before it from the 
commencement of harvest, any other name ? 

IVIar¥. I don't know ; there is none here. 

Mama. On what occasion do we read of the 
Holy Spirit descending on the apostles in ^< cloven 
Ungues of fire ?" 

Mary. Qhl the day of Pentecost. Why 
was it so called ? 

Mama. Because it occurred " fifty days," or 
seven weeks after the Passover. The last of 
these days, apd first of the feast, was especially 
holy ; and on it (the apostles being as devout 
Jews, ^' all of one accord in one place,".) did the 
third person of the Godhead manifest his visible 
presence in the striking form above mentioned. 

What were the peculiarities of the next solemn 
festival ? 

. Mary. It was called the " feast of Taberpa- 
pies." Wljy.so, M^ma? 



238 M0&NIN08 WITH MAMA. 

Mama. Because the people, in commemoni^ 
tion of their sojourn in tents in the wildemessy 
iired fbr the eight days it lasted in booths, or 
** tabemaeles," made of boughs of trees. It is 
the only one of the three festivals, which, now 
that their ** daily sacrifice is taken away" and 
their temple destroyed, modem Jews hare the 
means of celebrating ; and I am told they stiU do 
so, even in towns, with great regularity ; building 
their leafy arbours, not as in happier days ii| 
Judea, on the fiat ropfe of their oriental dwellingsi 
but in the upper chambers of many a smoky 
dingy house in London and other cities ; where 
the nearest neighbour knows as little of the in- 
terior of a Jewish &mily, and its traditional rites^ 
^s we do of the rigidly concealed customs of 
Japan. 

Mary. How curious 1 that *^ tabernacles " 
should actually be built in England at this day ! 
But, Mama, I was thinking, since the ** Pasd* 
over *' is still kept in honour of Christ, and the 
day of Pentecost remembered, because of the 
Holy Ghost coming down, we ought to build a 
tabernacle still (in our hearts at least) to God« 
to thank Him for the com and wine He gives us, 
as well as He did the Jews. 

Mama. I am glad this grateful, and not in- 
sppropriate remark occurred to you, my dear 



Mosirme twentieth. 239 

child, and I hope you will improve it by dedicat- 
ing, not seven days only, but every seventh 
day in the year, to pious gratitude to Him from 
whom all blessings flow. Observe too, on these 
occasions, the injunction ^ not to appear before 
the Lord empty," but give towards the support 
of your poorer brethren, <^ according to the bless- 
ing of thy God which He hath given thee." 

Mary. Mama, I have just observed, on read- 
ing over the last verses, that only men were to go 
up to Jerusalem three times a-year. Did women 
not worship God in those days ? 

Mama. Assuredly they did, and the rejoicing 
of the widows mentioned here, as well as the cir- 
cumstance of our Lord's mother and pious Han- 
nah accompanying their husbands to keep the 
Passover, shows that their attendance, though 
not enforced, was by no means prohibited. But 
granting it had» and admitting that they were 
often, by the cares of a femily, necessarily de- 
tained at home, you forget that the public sacri- 
fices formed only part of the gracious provision 
of God for His worship and service. This for- 
getfulness is too common ; and while we hear 
much of the burnt-offerings and oblations of the 
Jewish temple, we seldom think of the weekly 
devotions of the synagogues, established in every 
village and provided for by the careful d\«\^\%vcsQL 



240 M0BNING8 WITH MAMA. 

throughout the land of those << Leviten," one of 
whom is supposed, in this very chapter, to be re- 
siding within every rich man's gates,- and whom, 
in our former one, he is charged on his peril 
*< not to forsake while he lives on ihe earth." 
The synagogue worship resembled our own, in 
consisting partly of prayer, preaching, and praise. 
Do you remember the part our Lord took in it 
when entering on His ministry ? 

Mary. Yes, Mama ; he read a passage from 
Isaiah about himself, and all the people were 
^< astonished." /was astonished too, I remember, 
because he was neither a priest nor .a Levite. 
How came he, a young man, to get the book 
given him when he came in ? 

Mama. I myself did not know Maryytill very 
lately, that in so doing our blessed Lord was ful- 
filling a national custom, observed among his 
countrymen to this day. The first act of public 
life of every young Jew is to perform, for once 
the ofiice of public reader in his Synagogue ; and 
among rich persons the day is celebrated as one 
of great solemnity and rejoicing. Little were 
the congregation at Nazareth awar6 of the power 
and majesty of the obscure individual, who, with- 
out one advantage of rank or education, never- 
theless " spake as never man spake," as " one 
having authority, and not as the scribes I" 



MDRNraO TWENTIETH/ 241 

Oar knowledge of the moral and spiritual part 
of the Jewish ritual would have been imperfect, 
bad we omitted the tbird of our present chapters, 
which, thougb occurring at some distance, I 
have thought proper- to include in this day's read- 
ing. It records, in very striking terms, a most 
interesting rite; peculiar to the Jews indeed, but 
"ivorthy of the spiritual imitation of Christians, in 
its humble and aifecting recognition of that good- 
ness wbich extendeth to- all the children of our 
common Father, alike dependant on bis unde- 
served bounty. What was its external symbol ? 

Mary. When the people were eonie into the 
land God gave them, and bad reaped its fruits, 
they were to put the first of them all into a bas-* 
ket, and take it to the place God should ohoose, 
and give it to the priest that should be in those 
days, to set it down before the altar of the 
Lord. 

Mama. A most- significant homage in itself, 
to the Power and truth and goodness which had 
brought them through so many otetacles to the 
fruition of the land- of promise I But mark the 
humility with which the great lawgiver of the 
Jews teaches them to designate one of their most 
highly vaunted ancestors. Do you know who is 
meant by the " Syrian ready to perish," whom 

Y 



248 HfORMINCW triTH KAMA. 

alond they are permitted to call Father, << before 
the Lord?' 

Mary. I suppose it means Jacob, who was 
" ready to perish" twice — ^when he ran away 
ih>m home, and in the famine afterwards. Bat 
why is he called a Syrian ? 

Mama. It is thought because Laban (whose 
country he adopted and whose family he married 
into) was one, or else because Syria anciently in- 
eluded Mesopotamia. — But be this as it may, the 
term must have sounded harsh and opprobrious 
in the ears, and still more on the lips of the 
haughty Jew ; who was thus commanded to lay 
his national pride, as well as the arrogance of 
wealth, in deep humility at the feet of Jehovah* 
How did his prescribed address terminate ? 

Mary. ^ And now, behold, I have brought 
the first fruits of the land which thou, O Lord, 
hast given me." 

Mama. Such was to be the profession of 
every grateful Israelite, and such the appropria- 
tion of his first fruits to their Donor. What 
was to be his conduct with regard to tithes ? 

Mary. He was to " give them according tc 
God's commandment, to the Levite, the strange 
that was within his gates, the fatherless and th 
widow, that they might eat and be filled." 



HORNINO TWENTIETH. ,243 

Mama. Observe from thifi, bow aneient and 
venerable is the provisicm, (in tliese days of in- 
novation so rashly disputed), for the pastors of 
God's flock, and the poor among his people. 
The tithes being thus divinely allotted, what 
abuse or profanation of them did the devout 
Israelite solemnly disclaim ? 

Mary. *^ Eating them in his mourning," or 
giving them to unclean uses or to the dead. I 
don't quite know what all this means. 

Mama. The Egyptians offered their first 
fruits to Isis, not with rejoicings, like the grate- 
ful Jew, but with " doleful lamentations." They 
spent much of them in impure revellings, and 
sacrificed largely to dead kings and heroes ; all 
which superstitions being here abjured and re- 
nounced, the pious Israelite could with confidence 
put up his concluding petition; << Look down 
from thy holy habitation from heaven, and bless 
thy people Israel, and the land thou hast given 
us, as thou swarest unto our fathers." 

Such, my dear Mary, were the leading festivals 
(apart from the deeper and more mysterious 
rites typical of Christ's atoneinent, which will 
some time hence merit your most serious consi- 
deration) of the Jewish dispensation. Judge 
for yourself, for it is a point on which the young- 
est may feel and decide, whether they werp not 



24:4 MOBNINOS WITH MAMA. 

admirably calculated to regulate the affections, 
interest the heart, and banish selfishness ; and by 
cultivating true piety, viz. love to God and man, 
prepare the way for that still purer dispensation, 
which — springingfrom the same Divine Author — 
it can never either be honourable to Him, or safe 
for ourselves, to disjoin (as too many do).froni 
its adn^irable Mpsaij^^ forerunner^ 



24S 



MORNING TWENTY-FIEST. 



LESSONf'^-Deuteroiioniy, Chapters xv. and xxiL to verse 8 ; 

jpdv* from verse 14* 



Mama, The natural order of our reading, my 
dear Mary, has brought us to the part of the 
dying exhortation of Moses, more especially 
containing those kind and merciful provisions in 
the law of Jehovah, to which I have often re- 
ferred, as sufficing to establish its Divine origin, 
and raise it immeasurably above every system of 
legislation devised by human wisdom and bene- 
volence. To leave you ignorant of these, would 
be to deprive you of one of the most delightful 
branches of Scriptural knowledge ; and of one of 
ihe most powerful arguments in favour of the 
genuineness and inspiration of those Old Testa- 
ment writings in which they occur. But as a 
continued perusal of the chapters containing 
them would involve a departure from our plan 
of omitting for the present «A1 Tio\.\cie qH ^^^^"cxic- 



24«6 MOBNINOi. WITH MAMA. 

liar institutions of the Jews,-^ — apart from thatmo* 
rality which is older than the Law, and will sur« 
vive the Gospel — we must content ourselves with 
gleaning them as we go along, and corroborating 
them, as our memories serve, by the many simi-' 
lar injuQctioos with which our past reading, or 
the omitted portions of the previous books of 
Moses, also abound. 

Let us begin with the beautiful provision 
against covetousness and hardness of heart con- 
tained in the first of our chapters. What was 
the meaning of the " year of release ?" 

Mary, -Ev^ry seventh year, creditors were 
to excuse their debtors from paying what they 
owed, because it was " the Lord's release." 
.Mama, tbii^ would rather mal^e them hard-hearted 
and afraid to lend, for fear of never getting it 
back. 

Mama^ And it is precisely the gracious an- 
tidote to such natural perversity of feeling, which 
the Lord of the poor and needy condescends 
here to provide, when he says, " Beware that 
there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, say^ 
ing, the year of release is at hand, and thine eye 
be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest 
him nought, and he cry unto the Lord against 
thee, and it be sin unto thee." 

" Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart 



MORNING TWENTY-PIBSy. 247 

«hall not be grieved when thou givest unto him;" 
and why, Mary ? 

Mary. << Because that for this thing the 
Lord thy God shall bless thee in all that thou 
puttest thine hand unto/' This was a selfish 
reason, Mama ; surely loving our neighbour was a 
better. 

Mama. You forget the temporal rewards on 
which the whole deaUngs of God with the Jews 
^re, for wise reasons, founded. But I am glad 
you do not lose sight of the higher and purer 
motives in which Christian charity has its source* 
H«>w long was the commanded liberality of the 
pious Israelite to epdure ? 

Mary. Till there were " no poor in the 
laud;" and as God says afterwards that they 
should " never cease out of the land"^— of course 
charity was to last for ever tpo. 

Mama. Have we any New Testament cor- 
a*oboration of the inequality of human conditions, 
as a permanent dispensation of Providence? 
What said our Lord when pretended regard for 
humanity brought censure on the pious work of 
Mary ? 

Mary. " The poor ye have always with you." 

Mama* And so it will be to the end of time ; 
^Ise charity, the fairest and most godlike of the 
CJiristiuu virtues, would lose much of its appro* 



248 MOBNING8 WITH MAMA. 

priate exercise. Let us consider, while speaking 
of loans, other mercifiil precepts on the same 
subject, which might shame the conduct of Chris- 
tians, viz : — ^the positive prohibition to take usury, 
(meaning thereby, undue advantage of a brother's 
necessities,)^-and the injunction not merely to 
restore, before the going down of the sun, the 
pledged garment of him whom the want of it 
might expose to sleep uncovered — ^but with con- 
siderate delicacy to forbear intruding on the pos- 
sible poverty of his dwelling, by going in to 
fetch the pledge, and remaining at the door till 
it should be brought out Surely **He who 
knew what was in man," and ** had compassion 
on our infirmities," could alone have iramed pre- 
cepts at once so discriminating and benign I 

Was it property alone, which 9,t the end of 
seven years was to be released ? 

Mary. No, Mama ; slaves every seventh year 
were to go free. How came God to allow the 
Jews to have slaves at all ? is it not wicked ? 

Mama. Domestic slavery, my dear, pre- 
vailed universally at this time, and long after, in 
the world. And its regulation by Divine autho- 
rity among the Jews, and the apostolic injunc- 
tions to submission under it, among the early 
Christians, are undoubted proofs of thfe Almighty's 
toleration of what was perhaps, in the then state 



MOHNINO TWENTY-FIRST. 24ft 

«f society, an me¥itable evil. But as this state 
of servitude was among heathen nations (even 
the most polished ones) frightfully abused, to 
the neglect, degradation, and even murder of 
millions of fellow human beings — nothing could 
better testify the goodness of God than the Mo- 
saic obligations to conduct diametrically opposed 
(in this as in many other cases,) to heathen prac- 
tice. Even while the bond continued, the mas- 
ter was forbid to oppress or maltreat his bend- 
man. If his life suffered from ill usage, that of 
his owner was forfeited. If an eye or tooth was 
injured, freedom was. the compensation. And 
stripes were to be limited to • forty, not merely 
from regard to humanity, but ^' lest thy brother 
should .seeip vile unto thee, if beaten with many 
stripes J" How might the brutally treated slaves 
of the enlightened Romans have envied the de- 
spised Jewish bondman I 

But was mere freedom irom captivity aU that 
was secured to the Hebrew slaye by God, "who 
is no respecter of persons?" 

Mary. No; his master was to furnish him 
liberally with all that he required, out of what 
Xjod had blessed him with. 

Mama. And for what affecting reason ? 

JVIary. "Thou shalt reniember that thou 



250 MORNINGS WITH MAB(Ur 

wert a bondman in th« land of Egypt, and the 
Lord thy God redeemed thee." 

Mama. Let ns hope that this consideratioB, 
in its higher Christian sense, still influences those^ 
who in our day endeavour so strenuously to ame- 
liorate the condition, and in due time to burst the 
bonds of those few remaining slaves, whom the 
mild light of Christianity has as yet &iled to let 
^< go free." But never let us forget the differ* 
ence which that light, even imperfectly followed, 
has put between the lot of those heathen ^^ ser* 
vants," (or slaves as the original means) whom 
St Paul nevertheless exhorts to obedience — and 
the poor negro of our own day. The greatest 
men among the Greeks and Romans, even Cato, 
whom we are accustomed to hear called ^* god- 
like," starved their slaves to death when old and 
past their labour. Whole households were tor* 
tured on the slightest suspicion, and massacred 
in wantonness on the death of their owners ; 
they were kept, when off work, chained in dens 
like wild beasts ; in short, were of less account 
than the " brutes that perish" — awhile the influ* 
ence of our blessed religion has obliged even 
those who slight its direct authority, to provide 
amply for the physical wants of their slaves — ^tp 
spare them in sickness and maintain them in old 
age, allow them time for recreation, and even, of 



MOBNINO TW£NTY-FIB8T. 251 

late, admit them to the participation of their own 
immortal privUeges. Remember this is the work, 
not of human advancement, (as many will tell 
you,) but of Christian principles ; and for these, 
observe how admirably the precepts we are con* 
sidering must have paved the way. As a proof 
of the degree in which they were obeyed, you 
will observe slaves are sometimes here supposed 
to be too much attached to accept emancipation ; 
and I am happy to say similar instances not un- 
frequently attest the kindness of masters at the 
present day. 

There is a precept in the 24th chapter regard- 
ing the << hired servant " or labourer, which our 
civilized times would do well to adopt and culti- 
vate. What says the 14th verse on this head ? 

Mary. '^ Thou shalt not oppress a hired ser- 
vant that is poor and needy, whether he be of 
thy brethren, or of thy strangers. At his day 
thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the 
sun go down upon it, for he is poor and setteth 
his heart upon it. Lest he cry against thee unto 
the Lord, and it be sin upon thee.*' 

Mama. And a '< sin " it truly is, upon the 
heads of many selfish and unprincipled persons, 
young as well as old, among ourselves, to with- 
hold — either from improvidence or mere thought- 
lessness—that paymeqt of labour vrKv^Vi Ssb \w^v 



252 MORNINGS WITH AtAMA. 

only the just due, but perhaps the " all " of the 
industrious families, condemned by their remiss- 
ness to undeserred, and, we may be assured, not 
unrequited suffering. Their " cry," it is to* be 
feared, daily ascends from every comer of this 
Christian land, to Him who will sooner or latbr 
avenge them. Let not extravagance, or culpable 
indifference of our's, Mary, eVer go to swell the 
fearful sum of misery caused by neglect of tbe 
precept you have read I 

What further benevolent provision for the 
poor, (besides direct charity,) do you find in this 
24th chapter ? 

Mary. " When thou cuttest down thine har- 
vest in the field, and hast forgot a sheaf, thou 
shalt not go again to fetch it. It shall be for the 
stranger, for the fatherless, and the widow.'* And 
the same, Mama, with gleanings of olives and 
grapes. How kind of Grod to think of them I 
and how considerate afU this must have made the 
Jews I 

Mama. How considerate ought it to make 
us, Mary, for whom also these things were writ- 
ten ; and who are aware of the calamities whicl 
neglect of them, (as well as of the higher dutie 
of the first table) brought upon the nation of tt 
Jews. If we compare the conduct to whi< 
blessings and promises are here annexed, wi 



MORNING TWENTY-FIRST. 253 

the shocking account given by God, through the 
mouth of his prophets, of the injustice, cruelty, 
and oppression of the Jews in after-times, — ^the 
forfeiture, complete and deserved, of the pro- 
mises and blessings, can never surprise, though 
it may awe and warn us. But remember it was 
when they " forgot God," and were " wholly given 
to idolatry," that this perversion of national char- 
acter took place ; and let us, as the source of all 
genuine humanity, try and " keep our hearts " 
right with Him, who hath bid us love Him first, 
and " our neighbour as ourselves." 

In what minute instances is the '< second great 
conmiandment " of the law enforced in the 22d 
chapter ? 

Mary. " Thou shalt not see thy brother's 
ox or sheep go astray, and hide thyself from 
them ; thou shalt in any case bring them home 
to thy brother ;" and they were to keep them till 
the owner appeared, even if they did not know 
him, and if they fell down, to help them up again. 
This was kind to him, as well as to the poor 
animals ; and only think of God condescending 
to save the poor mother when birds* nests were 
taken. But I wonder He did not forbid thtU 
altogether ? 

Mama. My dear, the benevolence which 
pervadfes the whole chapter may convince you. 



254 M0RN1N08 WKTH KAMA. 

that it is not mere wantOBp robbery which is here 
even indirectly sanctioned. The birds alluded 
to were doubtless those designed for food, par- 
ticularly pigeons, with which Judea swarmed; 
and in the permitted deprivation of which, for 
our use, we eiuw^tly (though unconsciously) fol- 
low the prescribed limitation, Similar injunc- 
tions, (without being too literally understood,)^ 
generally inculcate such a sparing and regulated 
use of God*s oreatures, as consists with His in- 
tention* and the advantage of man. 

Our next reading will be of a less pleasing 
and more awfiil character, consisting of instances 
(passed over for connexion's sake) of exceptiona 
to the gentle merciful tenor of the precepts we 
have so complacently dwelt on. And both to^ 
gether will appropriately usher in those con- 
trasted blessings and curses with which the aged 
lawgiver concludes his address to the people he 
had so long watched over. 

The beautiful) though comparatively trifling, 
precepts we have gleaned to-day might suffice 
(were mightier testimonies wanting) to prove that 
the " God " who dictated them " is love." We 
need the instances of uncompromising severity — 
not undesignedly, we may believe — blended with 
them, to remind us that He is one ^' who exe- 
cuteth judgment, and will by no means dear the 
guilty:' 



255 



MORNING TWENTY-SECX)ND. 

Wesson. — Deuteronomy, Chapters xvii. xviii. ydx* from 
verse 16 ; xxi. from verse 18. 

Mama. The injunctions to the painful, but we 
,4iiay be sure, necessary seyerities which, i» tiiis 
day's reading, we'find blended in the address of Mo- 
,ses with the most interesting prophecies regarding 
the future spiritual state of his nation — <K>mmence 
.(as from the dignity and majesty of God we 
might expect them to do) with unmitigated rigour 
.towards the sin of idolatry ; that thing which, 
it is emphatically said, the " Lord hatfeth/' and 
which the peculiar situation of the Jews, as sub- 
jects of the Almighty's visible government, ren- 
xlered it impossible for Him to pass over or 
^tolerate. How is this terrible denunciation 
worded ? 

Mary. " If there be found among you, within 
,«jiy of thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth 
jthee, man or womap? that hath wrought viv5s5ijfcA.- 



256 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

ness in the sight of the Lord thy God, by trans- 
gressing his covenant, and hath gone and served 
other Gods, and worshipped them, either the sun 
or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which 

I have not commanded, ; thou shalt 

bring forth that man, or that woman, which have 
committed that wicked thing unto thy gates, and 
shalt stone them with stones till they die." 

Mama. An awful punishment! and one 
which, as inflicted by the body of the people, 
(even, as is enjoined in another chapter, the 
nearest and dearest to the offender) was more 
likely to make a lasting impression than a mere 
judicial execution. Do you remark any particu- 
lars in the subsequent verses throwing light on 
New Testament transactions ? 

Mary. Yes, Mama. I see now why " two 
witnesses" were necessary to swear falsely against 
our Lord and Stephen. 

Mama. And in the account of the latter's 
martyrdom, did the witnesses (as here command- 
ed) take an active part ? 

Mary. Yes, now I understand why they 
" laid down their clothes at the feet of Saul ;" I 
suppose that they might be more at liberty to 
throw stones without them. 

Mama. And don't you remember our Lord's 
calm but soul-convicting proposal to the ac- 



MORNING TWENTY-SECOND. 2S'] 

Abusers of the erring woman, that << he who was 
without sin among them, should cast the first 
stone at her ?" This, you will remember in fu- 
ture, was the duty of witnesses in every case of 
the three Mosaic deadly sins of idolatry, blasr 
phemy, and adultery. 

Mary. Does it not seem hard that the maiii 
should die who would not *^ hearken" to the 
priest's judgment? 

Mama. Yes, if the decision had been a merer 
ly human one. But as God's government over 
the Israelites was carried on by the singular mer 
thod of " lively o^'acles," or by the mouth of an 
inspired high priest, rebellion againi^ him was 
in fact disowning the supremacy of Jehovah. 

Before proceeding to consider the woAderful 
prophecy contained in the second of our chap- 
ters, let us go on jto the sixteenth verse of the 
nineteenth, and see how fearfully perjury on the 
part of witnesses is guarded against, and requited. 
Jiead me the words of the denunciation. 

Mary. " If a false witness rise up against any 

man to testify against him that which is wrong, 

behold if the witness be a false witness 

^nd hath testified falsely against his brother, then 

shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have 

done unto his brother ; so shalt thou put the evij 

iiway from among you. And those which remain 

4 



258 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

shall hear and fear, and shall henceforth conunit 
no more any such evil among you." Mama, if 
this last had been observed in our Lord's time, it 
would not have been so easy to get " men of 
Belial " to swear falsely against him. 

Mama. No, Mary ; but what better could be 
expected among a people whose rulers were 
themselves the chief breakers of this, and the 
other " weightier matters " of that law which they 
had " made of none effect by their traditions." 
But let these awful words of the Most High make 
us shrink, not only from the gross guilt of per- 
jury, but those minor approaches to it by which 
our " brother " is sometimes little less seriously 
injured than by " feke witness " in a court of 
justice ; and remember that there is a bar above, 
where all such " evil speaking ** will be fearfully 
registered. 

The third, and to us most appalling of the 
cases in which " pity " was among the Jews for- 
bidden by Him whose name is compassion, is the 
sin of the rebellious undutiful son ; which, though 
not punishable in our times by a human tribunal, 
leaves little hope at the footstool of One whose 
commandment of " Honour thy father and thy 
mother," is destined to endure when " heaven 
^nd earth shall have passed away." To impress 



MORNING TWENTY-SECOND. 259 

this more deeply on our minds, read the awful 
words of the Mosaic injunction. 

Mary. " If any man have a stubborn or re- 
bellious son which will not obey the voice of his 
father, or the voice of his mother, and that when 
they have chastened him he will not hearken 
unto them," — ^they were to bring him to the elders 
and judges, and tell them he was stubborn and 
rebellious, a glutton and a drunkard, and he was 
to be stoned to death ! How horrible. Mama I 
Surely parents could never do this. 

Mama. Seldom, it may be believed, my dear ; 
but the design of Omnipotence in holding out 
this terrible warning is not the less manifest. And 
do you observe one clause in the sentence, which, 
by stipulating for the wicked son's "grey ions fruit- 
less chastisement, seem to involve in a dreadful 
responsibility many parents of modern times; 
who, though they would shrink from inflicting 
temporal death on their offspring, hesitate not, 
by a total neglect of all wholesome discipline, to 
become the moral murderers of those whose souls 
they consign to eternal perdition. If the He- 
brew father might not complain to the judges of 
his son's enormities till they had defied parental 
chastening, will not the son of Christian parents 
often " rise up in the judgment " against those 
who, in mistaken tenderness, or rathev ^.wV^iki^R. 



SSGO MOBNINOS WITH SflAJf A. 

indoleiice, have brought him, an unrepentant 
<< prodigal/* to the feet of a now at length inexo- 
rable judge? 

Let us all, young and old, IVJary, draw instruc- 
tion fix)m this awful lesson ; and let relative du- 
ties be performed among us, not out of slavish 
fear, but out of love to the declared will of Him 
who hath s^id, ** He who keepeth my commandr 
ments, the same is my mother, and sister, an4 
brother." 

Before dlsn;iis8ing the chapter in which this 
fearful transaction occurs, read its concluding 
verse, a^id tell me what light you gather from it 
.on the conduct of our Saviour's murderers, and 
on His peculiar condescension in the mode of 
death submitted to for our sakes. 

Mary. It says, " He that hangeth on a tree 
is accursed of God/* Surely that was j^ot the 
case with His blessed Son I 

Mama. Nq, certainly, my deaf. It only exr 
presses the opinion entertained amopg Jews of 
the ignominy of a punishment reserved for atror 
cious offenders, and, consequently, deepens our 
sense of the infinite humility of Christ. You see 
also why his bigotted enemies so eagerly desired 
the removal of their victim from the " accursed 
tree " before the evening. 

Mary, Yes, that their " land might not be 



MOBNING TWENTY-SECOND. 261. 

defiled/' Mama, I think it was defiled hx worse 
by the death of an innocent person. 

Mama. Right, Mary, and the defilement thus 
incurred continues, (in token of God's just indig- 
nation against hypocrisy) to this day. The Ro- 
mans, to abject fear of whom they sacrificed the 
" Just One," and whose barbarous punishment 
they borrowed to glut their vengeance — have 
" taken away their place and nation ;" the Mo- 
saic law, which they hoped to perpetuate, by 
breaking its chief precepts against perjury, blas- 
phemy, and murder, is abolished — and thiS Son of 
God, whom they strove to render, (as the margin 
of our chapter has it) the " curse of God," is be- 
come a << light to lighten the Gentiles, and the 
glory of all the ends of the earth I" This latter 
remark will aptly prepare the way for our return 
to the second of our chapters, verse 18th, and our 
consideration of the remarkable prediction by 
which Moses announces the future advent of 
Messiah, in his clear (yet nevertheless, by the 
Jews frequently overlooked) character of a <' Pro- 
phet." How is it expressed ? 

Mary. " I will raise them up a Prophet from 
among their brethren, like unto thee, and will 
put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak un- 
to them all that I shall command him. And it 
shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hear- 



^2 MOBNYNGS WITH MAMA. 

J^en unto my words which he shall ^leak in my 
name, I will require it of him." 

Mama. And fearfully has the refosal bees 
*^ required/' Mary, of the whole Jewish nation^ 
But were there any among them who recognised 
in Jesus the successor thus promised to Moses ? 

Mary. I suppose, Mama, good people like 
Simeon and Anna.dki, wh^i th^ rejoiced so s^ 
his birth. 

Mama. As the Messiah, or " Deliverer," 
;they undoubtedly hailed him ; but we have the 
jtestimony of three New Testament passages as to 
the distiuct expectations of a great prophetical 
^character, entertained by some a4: the period of 
our Saviour s appearing. How runs the question 
put by the priests and Levites to John the Bap- 
;tist in the wilderness respecting his own charac- 
ter and pretensions ? 

Mary. Oh I I remember they asked Jiim, 
" Art thou Elias ?" or " that Prophet ?" as if 
they expected them to be different. 

Mama. Yes, and in the same chapter, (the 
first of John's gospel,) Philip is made to say to 
Nathaniel, " We have found him of whom Moses, 
in the law, and the prophets did write." The 
third passage, which expresses a similar belief, 
occurs where (by a miracle resembling those of 
Moses) Christ fed five thousand men in the wil- 



SCORNING TWENTY-SECONir. 263 

derness, and they exclaimed, " This is of a truth 
that prophet which should come into the world I'*^ 
Strange I that of the thousands convinced of and' 
proclaiming this " truth," few indeed " believed 
unto the saving of their souls." This may shew u» 
how compatible extorted and transient convic- 
tions are with continuance in sin, and ultimate 
" coming short of the kingdom of God." 

Let it not be so with us, Mary. Since toe 
eannot even plead t&e shadow of a doubt of the 
Divine commission of our great Prophet to pal- 
liate inattention to his teaching — let us remem- 
ber his own awful assurance, that the '^ men of 
Nineveh who repented at tiie preaching of Jo- 
nah," will rise up m judgment ^< against us who 
repent not, though a <^ greater them Jonah," nay a 
greater than Moses himself, has been '< raised 
>ip among us," with the words of Omniscience 
in his mouth, and the power of Omnipotence in 
kis hand I 



264 



MORNING TWENTY-THIRD. 

Lesson. — Deuteronomy, Chapters xxviii. and xxx. 

Mama. We are now come to perhaps the 
most striking part of the whole parting discourse 
of Moses, viz., his enumeration of the contrasted 
blessings and miseries which a more or less care- 
ful observance of the law of their God would en- 
tail in after-times upon his countrymen. Inter- 
esting as this contrast is in itself, from the pious 
eloquence of the departing prophet, and the 
affecting circumstances under which he address- 
ed the nation he had " borne and nourished " so 
long ; it is doubly so to us, from our knowledge 
of the literal fulfilment which these promises of 
" Him who cannot lie," and threatenings of Him 
" who is not a man that He should repent," have 
received and are still receiving in the history of 
the Jews. 

You already know in a general manner how 
their idolatry has ended in spiritual desertion — 
their rejection of their great Prophet and King, 



5 



MORNING TWENTY-THIRD. 265 ' 



in national annihilation — and their long disbelief 
and disobedience of the things here spoken for 
their warning, in a degradation and dispersion 
which have made them a " proverb and an as- 
tonishment," not only to themselves, but to all 
who dwell on the face of the earth. Let a care- 
ful examination of the particulars of this wonder- 
ful anticipation of an unparalleled history, assist 
in confirming our faith ; for whose " ensample " 
this and all other parts of the Old Testament 
scriptures were " written." 

Which side of their contrasted destinies does 
" He who delighteth in mercy " first set forth to 
his people ? 

Mary. The good side. Mama, as much as 
to say that if they behaved well, there need never 
be any other. 

Mama. Yes ; God who " is love " is " well 
pleased " to work by mild and gentle methods. 
His threatenings seem always reluctant vindica- 
tions of his slighted mercies. What was the first 
general temporal blessing held out for obedience? 

Mary. That God would " set them high 
above all nations of the earth." This they would 
surely like as they were so proud. 

Mama. Yes ; but their very pride, as is too 
often the case, firustrated its own " lofty imagin- 
ings." Had they chosen to remain under the ' 

2 A 



266 MORNINGS ^TTTH UAMA. 

direct gOTemment of God, this single ci fc u m- 
stance, and its consequent prosperity^ wookL have 
exalted them above ^ aill kingdoms ;" but by re- 
volting, and desiring (as Moses had propheswd)- 
a king, they forfeited the magnificent privil^e, 
and sunk into the rank of a petty, though at 
times prosperous and renowned people. What 
were to be the particulars of thiar internal and 
domestic pro^erity ? 

Mary. They were to be ** blessed in thef 
city and in the field, in the fruit of their body, 
and the fruit of their ground, and the fruit of 
their cattle ; blessed in their basket and store ; 
blessed when they came in and went out.'* Oh I 
Mama, if God would promise tiiat to a people 
now, surely they would do any thing for sucb 
happiness ! 

Mama. What! those who will do nothing 
for the happiness of heaven ? But peiiiaps you 
are so far right, that earthly success would by 
many be esteemed the more valuable boon. We 
shall see if it proved a sufficient one to command 
obedience from the Jews. 

What higher promises than those of merer 
wealth and plenty, did even a dispensation con^' 
fined to this world hold out to obedient Israel ? 

Mary. " The Lord shall establish thee « 
holy people unto himself ...... and all ttrnf 



HOiLNIMO TTKENTY-THIRI>. 267 

people of the €aii^ shall see that thou art called 
by the name of the Lcord" 

Mama. What a glorious distinction to barter, 
AS the Jews idly did, for ^< gods of wood and stone 
that could not profit them *' — and kings, lii^e those 
fi{ ^^ the nations round about them," — capricious, 
Ikyrannical, liable to defeat and disgrace, and dis^ 
tinguished too o£ben for nothkig bi^t pre-emir 
pence in folly and wickedness ! 

Bat are the Jews the only people who have 
disowned God's supremacy ? Of whom, in the 
parable of the talents, does ot^r prince and law- 
giver say, — "But these mine enemies, which 
?would i^t that I should reign over then^ bring 
hither and slay them before me ?** 

Mary. Oh I Mama, how awful I It can be 
of no one but the idle servants who did nothing 
^th their lord's money. 

Mama. So you see that pepple may " reject 
God " in other ivays than denyipg his authority, 
yiz.— by not obeying it. How does Moses con- 
firm this opinion at the |4th verse f 

Mary. " Thou sh^lt not go aside from an}'- 
pf the words I command thee this day, to the 
^ight hand, or to the left.'' 

Mama. Let us now see what was to happen 
^n the event of their doing so, as Moses too well 
^ei^r thev lyould. Al^ t th^ Pisgah-yiew of th<^ 



268 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

beauties of the land he was forbidden to enter, 
was not the only melancholy picture, unveiled, 
as his dissolution approached — ^to the '< man 
whose eyes God opened!" The prophetic re- 
velation of his country's apostacy and ruin must 
have been a spectacle bitterer still I How does 
the aged prophet — sadly enough we may suppose 
— endeavour to avert their ruin ? 

Mary. By reversing all the blessings he had 
pronounced before ; and giving an answering 
curse for every one of them. Mama, it makes 
one's flesh creep to hear such dreadful words, 
almost out of God's own mouth. 

Mama. Let it make our souls tremble, Mary, 
lest we incur them, or the far worse penalties of 
the " worm which dieth not," and "the fire which 
is not quenched." Both, remember, issue from 
the same dread immutable source. The Jews 
have known it to their cost in this world. What 
will be the condition of those who awake to the 
knowledge of it in another ? 

Mary. Mama, the curses are frightfully mi- 
nute. I understand too well about " pestilence, 
and consumption, and fever, and the sword, and 
blasting and mildew." But what does it mean 
that the " heaven over their head should be brass, 
and the earth under their feet iron," and " the 
rain of their land powder and dust ?" 



IIORNINO TVFENTY-THIBD, 269 

Mama* It means such a parching and deso- 
lating drought as we can form a very imperfect 
idea pf ; but sufficient in those climates, almost 
to realize the vivid language of inspiration. A 
<' rain of dust ** was a figure by no means unin- 
telligible to the Israelite, whose acquaintance 
with the desert must have familiarized him with 
the frightful whirlwinds of sand> so £sital there tp 
the unwary traveller* 

The cruel oppressions and spoliation of pro- 
perty next mentioned, were not confined to the 
times of the first apostacy ; but have pursued them 
into all lands almost to our own day. Till of late 
the portion of the Jew was, even in Christian 
countries, << madness and astonishment of heart," 
and a degree of insecurity that hardly allowed 
him the enjoyment of any one external posses- 
sion ; while his concealed wealth was ofiten wrung 
from him by extremity of torture ; so truly have 
they been, as Moses here predicts, '^oppressed 
and spoiled for evermore." 

What is said of that most precious possession 
** the fruit of their body," when rendered " ac- 
cursed " by the sins of rebellious parents ? 

Ma&y. Their " sons and daughters were to 
be given to another people." 

Mama. Did this happen once only ? 



270 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

Mary. No ; they were carried away captive 
several times. 

Mama. How long did one of those memor- 
able exiles continue ? 

Mary. Seventy years. 

Mama. Consequently the " eyes " of parents 
must not only have " failed with longing " for 
those whom their national sins had banished — 
but closed in sorrow long ere the return of the 
diminished handful who were at length permitted 
to revisit Jerusalem. Was the captivity to be 
confined to prisoners of ordinary rank ? 

Mary. The Lord was to " bring them and 
their king whom they would set over them" into 
a strange country, to serve " gods of wood and 
stone." 

Mama. Two monarchs — Jehoiakin and Ze- 
dekiah — ^fulfilled this melancholy prediction ; as 
they did those of prophets nearer their own 
times, by the curious circumstance of the one 
(whose eyes were put out) never " seeing " the 
land in which he nevertheless lived — and the 
other "feeding the fowls of heaven with his car- 
case," (a most unlikely indignity for a Jewish 
monarch) by dying a neglected captive in a 
heathen land. 

Leaving their becoming a " proverb and a 



MORNING twenty-thiud. 271 

byword, and an astonishment," to be more amply 
fulfilled still, when, in addition to rebelling against 
the " Lord of the vineyard," these " wicked hus- 
bandmen" had slain his blessed Son — ^let us pro- 
ceed to observe the wonderful minuteness with 
which their last great national disaster, the Roman 
• invasion and conquest, were (at a time, remem- 
ber, when the empire of Rome and kingdom of 
Judah were alike destitute of existence) describ- 
ed by the prophetic historian. Not Joseph us 
himself, the faithful recorder of those unheard of 
calamities, excels, in clearness and precision, him 
who saw with the eye of faith " the things that 
should be hereafter." 

What kind of a nation was at length to fill up 
the measure of Israelis woes and punishment ? 

Mary. " The Lord shall bring a nation 
against thee from afar — swift as the eagle flieth : 
a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand 
— a nation of fierce countenance " 

Mama. Stop, Mary, and tell me how these 
particulars especially apply to the Romans, above 
the Chaldeans, Assyrians, and others, who had 
previously " vexed and oppressed Israel ?" Had 
Italy any near affinity (like those countries) with 
Judea? 

Mary. No ; the sea was between them. 



272 ' HOBNINQS WITH MAMA. 

Mama. Dq you know why the Romans are 
likened to eagles ? 

Mary. I suppose, because they bad eagles 
for their standards ; Papa showed me some o\l 
his coins the other day. 

Mama. Very well remembered. It is not 
the first time coins have been of service in eluci- 
dating history. Were the Jews likely to under- 
stand the *' tongue " of the Roman invaders ? 

Mary. I don t think it, as they lived so far 
away. But did they understand those of the 
other nations better ? 

Mama. Certainly> for we have still extant 
Syriac and Chaldee versions of the Old Testa- 
ment; and long captivities and frequent inter- 
course made them but too conversant with the 
language, as well as errors, of adjoining nations. 
Were the Romans distingubhed for superior 
fierceness ? 

Mary. Oh ! yes ; they were never happy 
but when making war. 

Mama. And for not regarding the old, or 
" showing favour to the young ?" 

Mary. I don't know so well about the old, 
but I remember Brutus condemned his own two 
sons to death because they displeased him. 

Mama. Well applied again. Human learn- 



MORNING TWENTY-THIRD. 273 

. ing is never so useful as when it corroborates 
Scripture ; which it perpetually does. To make 
you understand the " besieging in all their gates " 

. with which the memorable siege of Jerusalem 
was ushered in — ^you shall read Josephus, whose 

. history is almost a continued chronicle of des- 
perate, though hopeless resistance, to these in- 

. exorable " besiegers " of the hitherto impregna- 
ble " high and fenced walls " of the " hill coun- 

. try " of Judea. 

Mary. Mama, I remember the shocking story 
of the woman eating her son occurred when we 
were reading the Book of Kings, and you told 
me then that it happened again in the time of 
the Romans. 

Mama. And with this remarkable confirma- 
tion of the prophetic minutiae, that the " tender 
and delicate woman," whose " eye was then evil " 
towards the fruit of her womb, was so rich and 
noble, as to make her being driven to such ex- 
tremities a proof that the Roman sword was at 
this time the least scourge of the unhappy and 
sinful Jewish nation. 

This wretched woman, whose name was Mary, 
the daughter of Eleazer, was goaded (do you not 
shudder to hear it ?) to this horrid expedient by 
the daily plunder of her own countrymen — the 
obstinate and infatuated defenders of a cit.^ <i<^'^ 



VJi X0RNIflQ6 WITH MAMA^ 

liad determined to deatroy. Weil might Mo« 
flay, ehe should eat her unnatural meal ^ secrc 
Ijr/' for, having covered up the residue for m; 
otSier day, the seent of it attracted the niercile 
spoilers ; and, abaodoned as they were, when d 
showed them the share she said she had reservi 
for them, they fled ia horror aad amazement { 

Maht. Oh! Mainal what m shocking hi 
%oryl 

Mama. Yes, my child, and one fraught wis 
prwtvii instruetion. Shall toe not ** fear that gL 
ripus name, the Lord our God," in the negle< 
of which you read all this soul-harrowing misei 
and harharity originated? The horrors of ti 
siege of Jerusalem (of which this is but a spec 
men) transoeod all the relations of history, an 
drew from the conquerors themselves freqoei 
aad ineffectual testimonies of compassion. Titu 
the agent of God in its destruction, strove in vai 
to frustrate the decrees of Jehovah. The Ten 
pie, which he wished to preserve, accident (i 
the Romans called it, but we know Provident 
gave up to devouring flames. The plough passe 
reluctantly over the site of the city, and not or 
stone of the proud buildings over which the So 
of God had wept in vain, remained upon anothe 

Nor did the inhabitants escape in their city 
annihilation. More than a million of souls pe: 



ished during the Mege — ^ninety-seven thousand 
^ere sent into captivity-^Bor was the chief scene 
of this slavery less miraculous than all the rest. 
Look forward to the end of the chapter, and see 
\vhat is said about Egypt. 

Mary. " And the Lord shall bring tiiee intof 
Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof i 
spake unto you, ye shall see it no more again* 
And ye shall be sold to your enemies for bonc^ 
tnen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy 
you/' 

Mama. All which was exactly fiilfilled, even 
to the shipwreck of whole loads of the wretched 
captives, and slaughter of others for whom (when 
a whole nation was thus for sale) purchasers could 
not be found. After such caliamities, their being 
•" left few in number" is a matter of course, but 
let the cattse never escape us, ^* Because they 
would not obey the Lord their God." 

The history of their subsequent dispersion cor^ 
responds even more strictly than what we have 
already observed with what is henB predicted of 
their persecuted and insecure condition. Truly 
did their " lives hang in doubt before them,'' 
when, in all Catholic countries, a mere dttspicion 
of Judaism could at any time bring* tiiose Who 
Bocretly professed it to the stake ; and when ^tuw^ 
«ands peri:^h^d by fire, for adherence (such «r« 



276 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

the marvellous retributive ways of Heaven) to 
the faith they first lost home and country for 
deserting. 

With regard to the miserable remnant who 
yet linger around the site of their ancient splen- ' 
dour, fully is this part of the prediction accom- 
plished, '^ The stranger that is within thee shall 
get up above thee very high, and thou shalt be 
brought very low." For the haughty Turk lords 
it over the shrunken walls of Jerusalem, and 
spurns with a contempt (the only feeling he has ' 
in common with Christians) the trembling Jew 
who cowers along her deserted streets. 

Let us relieve our minds, after this distressing 
recital, by a hasty glance at the 30th chapter, 
(the natural sequel to the one we have been 
reading) and try to draw from the graciously 
fulfilled promises of return from earlier captivi- 
ties, and re-conversion of heart to God, some 
encouragement to hope, that the " outcasts of 
Israel " may yet be restored, not only to their 
own land, but to the service and favour of Jeho- 
vah, and the contrite acknowledgment of " Him 
whom they pierced." 

The latter part of the encouraging address of 
Moses is one which may come home yet more 
feelingly to the highly favoured Christian. Truly 
may it be said of us, " The word is very nigh 



MORNING TWENTY-THIRD. 277 

unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that 
thou mayest do it." We have not to say, " Who 
shall go up to heaven to bring it us, that we may 
hear and do it ?" — seeing that one " mighty to 
save" has come down unsolicited, with the. lovely 
precepts of Christianity in one hand, and the 
glad tidings of salvation in the other. And does 
He not say with a voice more authoritative far 
than that of Moses, " I call heaven and earth to 
record this day against you, that I have set be- 
fore you life and death, blessing and cursing, 
therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed 
may live ?" May He never have cause to say 
to any of us, " Ye will not come unto me that ye 
might have life I" 



t>ft 



278 



MORNING TWENTY-FOURTH. 



LlissoN. — Deuteronomy, Chapters xxxi. and xzxiL td 

verse 48. 



Mama. We are drawing fast, my deto Mdrf, 
to the close of the ministry of the eminent, aiid> 
as regarded his fellow-creatures, upright and un- 
blameable leader of Israel ; and cannot help re- 
marking how wonderfully (as if to compensate 
for the forfeiture of temporal privileges) his spi- 
ritual discernment of things future as well as 
present seems to have been enlarged. 

We have already heard him predict, with a 
minuteness and precision the most extraordinary, 
the apostacy and consequent miseries of his na- 
tion, and in so far, indeed, the clearness of men- 
tal vision vouchsafed him must have been (as 
we observed) rather a source of pain than plea- 
sure. But in the chapters we have read to-day, 
we find him enabled to sing the praises of Jeho- 
vah in a manner worthy of his divine subject, 
and with somewhat of the anticipated fervour of 



M0BNIN6 TWENTY-FOURTH. 279 

Ope who was ere long to praise Him in the ehotip 
of the redeemed on high. 

Befoi^ proceeding to this sublime hysan, we 
must not overlook the graeious provision made 
by God, for the temporal welfare of His peo{de, 
by supplying them with a second Moses, in the 
person of the upright and long-tried Joshua ; nor 
the disinterested warmth with which the supers 
seded lawgiver encourages his successor to bring 
the people into the " good land " which the Lord 
their God hath given them. On what iD&Uible 
grounds dqes he build his assu^nces of safety 
and success 7 

Mary. ^' And the Lord it is that doth go 
before thee ; He will be with thee, He will not 
fail thee neither forsake thee." 

Mama* And have we Christians any ground 
to apply to ourselves this most eomfbrtable pro-i 
niise? 

Mary. Surely we have, Mama. Does not 
our Lord somewhere say to his disciples, " Lp ! 
I am with yon always, unto the end of the world?** 

Mama. An excellent answer, Mary, and one 
with which (as occurring to yourself) I am bet- 
ter pleased than if you had happened to rcoUect 
the actual application of the words of Moses to 
Joshua, by tjie Apostle Panl to tl^e Hebrew 



280 . MORNINOS WITH MAMA. 

converts of his day, as a motive for " casting all 
their care " upon God, and " being content with 
such things as they have." You are right in 
supposing that He who failed not, neither forsook 
Joshua and his people till their final settlement 
in the earthly Canaan — will yet more certainly 
accompany, in every stage of his heavenward pil- 
grimage, each faithful member of the " Israel of 
God." 

But, not content with appointing a temporal 
leader, and " strengthening his heart " with such 
lofty assurances of Divine protection — how did 
Moses (under God's direction no doubt) provide 
for the preservation and future knowledge of the 
law? 

Mary. He wrote it down, and when he had 
done writing it, he said to the Levites which bare 
the ark of the Lord, " Take the book of the law, 
and put it inside the ark of the covenant of the 
Lord your God, that it may be there for a wit- 
ness against thee." 

Mama. A witness — and why, Mary ? 

Mary. Because he knew that if they had 
rebelled against God while he yet lived, they 
would do it much worse after his death. 

Mama. Such being the case, was this careful 
teacher satisfied that God's law (the only possi- 



MORI>7IN6 TWENTY-^FOUBTH. 281 

ble preservative against such apostacy) shoulci 
remain in the honourable place to which he had 
consigned it ? 

Mary. No, no ; if it had stayed there, they 
might have pretendecl they did not know itt 
But every seven years (in the year of release) 
it was to be read over to all the people, men, 
women, and children. 

Mama. Thus reminding the elders of their 
linown duty, apd (as we have so often had occasion 
to observe) testifying God*s fatherly care for the 
instruction of the rising generation — that they 
also *' might hear, and learn to fear the Lord 
their God." My dear Mary, are i^ot young peo- 
ple worse than ungrateful, if the God who had 
^he *^ little ones " of Israel '^ in such continual re- 
membrance," or the Saviour whose first public 
blessing rested on the infant children of his very 
enemies — sees his provision for their improve- 
ment slighted, and his love for their souls repaid 
with coldness and neglect ? Surely every irreli- 
gious child seeks to make *' Him a liar" who hath 
said that " of such is the kingdom of Heaven." 

Do you recollect any remarkable occasion 
when this reading of the law occurred in after- 
times ? 

Mary, In the book of jLings we read of its 



282 MORNINGS \I^ITH MAMA. 

being done by Josiah, when it was found in the 
temple, after it had been long forgotten ; and do 
you remember, Mama, how shocked and fright- 
ened all who then heard it were ? 

Mama. As we should be, were it possible 
for the pure commands of God, and the awfiil 
threatenings with which they are accompanied 
in the Old Testament, to be learned by us for 
the first time, with no Mediator to atone for our 
own sad deficiencies I But a still more public and 
striking repetition of the law took place under 
Ezra, on the return of the people from their 
long captivity — the interesting account of which, 
and all the particulars of that happy restoration, 
I think we must take for our next reading. 

But we must now proceed to the noble " song 
of Moses," — and in what far higher light than as 
a mere effusion of human piety and gratitude, 
is it here ushered in by God himself? 

Mary. He commanded Moses to " write it, 
and teach it to the children of Israel, and put it 
into their mouths, to be a witness for Him against 
them." 

Mama. It is a terrible thing, Mary, when 
the very goodness and greatness of God are thus 
marshalled in judgment against us ; as they are, 
alas I against too many by whom (like the Jews) 



MORNING TWENTY-FOURTH. 283 

they are abused and forgotten ! How did Je- 
hovah foresee this ungrateful people would repay 
Him? 

Mary. When they had " eaten and filled 
themselves, and waxed fat," then they were to 
" turn unto other gods to serve them, and pro- 
voke God and break his covenant." This was 
really so unlikely a time. Mama, that unless God 
had " known their imaginations before," (as He 
says here) one never could have guessed it ! 

Mama. Alas I Mary, what had Omniscience 
long before — ^when the world was yet fresh from 
the hands of its Creator — declared respecting 
" all the imaginations of man's heart ?" 

Mary. That they were " only evil continu- 
ally." Mama, this has always vexed me, for one 
loves to think some people good. 

Mama. And thus undoubtedly m?c are autho- 
rized to regard the few with whom God in ancient 
times "talked as with a friend," and who are 
even (in a restricted sense) said to be " perfect " 
before Him ; and far more may we cherish such 
pleasing views with regard to the many Christi- 
ans who " walk worthy of the vocation where- 
with they are called." But what the voice of 
God and the voice of conscience alike call us to 
acknowledge, is, that whatever of even imperfect 
virtue resides in the breast of any human beia^^ 



28 1< l^O^NINQS WITH MAMA. 

is the work of " Him from whom every good 
thing Cometh ;*' ^qd that the gQodness (as you 
love to call it) of ourselves or others, is as much 
— aye in a higlief' H^gree — matter of humble 
thankfulness to the Giver, as personal advantages 
or temporal possessions. The Scripture repre-? 
sentations of hum^^R depravity which offend the 
profane, and unduly depress the pious — are rather, 
to the eye of faith, the most glorious trophy in 
the crown of that conqueror, (over sin as well 
as death,) who out of such ruined and degraded 
materials has built unto Himself a church <^ with- 
out spot or wrinkle " — pure as the b^avens, and 
worthy to exist in the presence of God for ever I 

But we have wandered a great way from the 
song of Moses. Whom did he bring together 
to hear it ? 

Maky. All the elders of the tribes and offi- 
cers ; that he might " call heaven and earth to 
record against them." 

Mama. And in what sublime words is this 
invocation couched ? 

Mary. " Give ear, O heavens I and I will 
speak ; and hear, O earth I the woi'ds of my 
mouth." 

Mama. Can we conceive anything much 
more striking than the venerable prophet of Is- 
rael, his vigour undecayed by an hundred and 



MORNING TWENTY-FOURTH. 285 

twenty years of toil and vicissitude — appealing 
to Heaven and earth as witnesses between their 
great Author and men, the only creatures of his 
hand who ever dream of defying His authority, 
or disobeying His laws. But though by the 
same noble figure of speech which represents the 
" heavens as declaring the glory of God," mere 
inanimate nature may be called in to reproach 
the insensibility of man — we cannot doubt that 
here the inhabitants both of " Heaven above and 
earth beneath " are summoned to the controversy. 
And if we, fallible mortals, and partakers, as we 
hourly are, in the guilt of the rebellion, cannot 
but admit its enormity ; what judgment do you 
think the heavenly hosts — those "ministers of 
God that do his pleasure" — must form of so 
monstrous a scene as a people denying the " Fa- 
ther that bought them " — " the God who made 
and established them ?" 

Let us not overlook, amid the magnificence of 
the subject, the gentle and fructifying eflfect, 
which, on others at least, if not on the Jews, the 
publication of the " name of the Lord " was ex- 
pected by Moses to produce. What does he 
say of this his most precious " doctrine ?" 

Mary. That it should "drop as small rain 
on the tender herb, and as showers upon the 
grass." 



286 MORNINaS WITH MAMA. 

Mama. And hare such blessed and amelior- 
ating effects been found to follow the knowledge 
of the true God ? 

Mary. Oh I yes ; it is only ^vages now who 
are fierce and bloody, as all men used to be io 
heathen times. 

Mama. Human passion^; I fear, Mary^ are 
still the same in some unregenerate bosoms ; but 
certainly (as we observed about slavery) our 
l^Qly religion has softened them in a degree no 
e^ijgie l£ss mighty to the <' pulling down of 
strongholds " couM have accomplished. And it 
has been f^oiud by the ^fLr^a silent refreshing in- 
fluence, with which tbe shgw^rft or dew^ of oight 
<^ disti) *' on ^he formerly arid soil? i^ajpng << grasD 
to spring up, and herbs for the food of mw." 

In what immutable character does the '< doc- 
trine " thus introduced set forth the Almighty ? 

Mary. As a Rock. 

Mama. Or still more definitely " the Rock," 
Mary ; as if He alone, as is most true, possessed 
stability or strength. By what methods deeply 
interesting to them does this immutability of God 
manifest itself? 

Mary. " His work is perfect; all his ways 
are judgment. A God of truth, and without 
iniquity — just and right is He." 

Mama. Attributes these, one would think) 



{Sufficient to se<inre to Him the worship of the 
universe — ^to form (as we know they do) the 
admiration of angels, and call ferth, from ail the 
i^ubjects of so righteous a government, one uni- 
versal song of joyfiil adoration. But what were 
the peculiai? claims on Jewish obedience of this 
great and unchangeable Lord ? 

Mary. Oh I eiidleds. It says that He " took 
Jaebb for His portion and inheritance," preserved 
hini iii the " \WuJte and howling wildemesiS,'* 
" instructed him and kept hini as the apple of 
his ^ye," and led him about ^< as ah eagle stirreth 
up her nest, and fluttereth over her young, and 
bearing them on hef Wings.*' And so He did, 
Mclma, all th6 time we have been reading of in 
the wilderness ; but there is one thing here that 
puzzles me. I daresay they might ^e^t " honey" 
and " Oil " there (as we kn6W they did water) 
out of the " flinty rodk C but surely they had not 
'« butter" attd" milk," and "wheat " and « grapes," 
else manna would not have continued. 

Mama. I am glad you have made the re- 
mark, as it givei^ me an opportunity of pointing 
out to you, throughout this and many portions 
of the prophetic word, how completely the Spirit 
of Him, in whose sight " a thousand years are 
as one day," took possession of those whom He 
inspire, and made ev«lts yet future s^eira not 



288 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

only present, but even past in their eyes. The 
" waxing fat," and '^ kicking of Jeshurun ;'* the 
" sacrificing to devils," which Moses recounts 
and bewails — as yet (like the fertility and wealth 
in which they originated) existed but in the fore- 
knowledge of God. Yet does this genuine " seer," 
aided by the All-seeing eye of Him to whom the 
long ages of futurity are " as yesterday, or a 
watch that is past," trace through their remotest 
consequences, blessings not yet conferred, and 
sins not yet conceived. 

There is no external testimony so strong as 
this internal one to the divine inspiration of the 
Old Testament prophecies. Impostors might 
(on the strength of probabilities) hazard predic- 
tions ; but it is the " man whose eyes God hath 
opened " who can alone overleap, like Him, the 
bounds of time and space, and relate, with the 
warmth of an indignant eye-witness, events as 
unborn as the generations who are to be engaged 
in them. 

What proof of this transportation, as it were, 
into futurity have we in Moses's expressions in 
the 1 9th verse ? 

Mary. He says — " And when the Lord saw 
it, He abJiorred them ; on account of the provok- 
ing of His sons, and of His daughters." 

Mama. It is not without reason that the 






MORNING TWENTy-FOUBTH. 289 

latter were particularized. Do you remember 
what Jeremiah accuses the women of doing in 
his time ? 

Mary. " Baking cakes to the queen of 
heaven," Mama. I remember your telling me 
that meant worshipping the moon, which God, 
in our yesterday's chapter, particularly forbids. 
But though I do not so much wonder at foolish 
people who forget God, adoring the beauti^l 
sun and moon, I don't remember any nation but 
the Jews that were wicked enough to worship 
« devils." 

Mama. If the character of deities, like that 

of their votaries, is to be " known by their works," 

truly might it be said of the heathen divinities, 

'•' Ye are of your father the devil, and the works 

of your father ye do." For there was not a sin 

(of all which we know him to be the author) 

or a barbarity (and he, we know, " is a murderer 

from the beginning ") which had not its place 

in the rites of the demon-worship of antiquity. 

If we see the absurdity of the Jewish notion of 

" Satan casting out Satan," with equal clearness 

may we judge, that the gods by whose worship 

his " kingdom " was sustained and advanced, 

were (in as far as they existed at all) evil spirits 

of kindred nature and malignity. 

But leaving the nation *' void of understand- 

2 c 



390 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

ing" (as they are called by God) who couU! 
** turn after them " to reap the bitter fruit of 
their apostacy, let us conclude our review of 
their crime and punishment, by taking home to 
ourselves the merciful expression of even an 
offended God — " O that they were wise — that 
they understood this-— that they would consider 
their latter end !" 



291 



MORNING TWENTY-FIFTH. 

Lesson. — Deuteronomy, Chapters xxxiii. and xxxiv. 

Mama. The chapter which stands first in 
our reading on this day— when (with regret on 
my part at least, and I am apt to think on yours 
also) we shall take our leave of the amiable, as 
well as eminent person whose blessing on his 
nation it records— is far from being capable of 
such minute and clear explanation as the won- 
derful prophecy we were considering yesterday. 
Not only are the general features of the national 
history of the Jews far more easily traced and 
familiar to us than the family distinctions and 
peculiarities of the tribes of Israel, but the bless- 
ing itself (like the corresponding one of Jacob, 
which it much resembles) is couched in language 
so oriental and figurative, that to assign its pre- 
cise meaning has been too much for abler com- 
mentators than ourselves. Nor is it necessary 



292 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

that we should do more than glance at the re- 
markable coincidence of many parts of the pre- 
diction with the position and state of the various 
tribes; because we shall find ample and more 
edifying matter for reflection in the noble mani- 
festation of the Almighty with which the chi^ 
ter begins and terminates. 

From whence does Moses represent the glory 
of the Lord as first illuminating his chosen people ? 

Mary. From " Smai," Mama, and " Seir," 
and " Mount Paran." I know the law was given 
from Sinai ; where were Seir and Paran ? 

Mama. Mount Seir (the lot of the children 
of Edom) lay, as we have read, in the course of 
the Israelites through the wilderness of Ftom ; 
the general name of which is here used for the 
adjoining summits of Horeb. Why is it said the 
Lord " shined forth" from thence ? 

Mary. Because I daresay His glory must 
have been very bright there, when even Moses's 
face shone so when he came down that the people 
could not look at him till he put a veil on. I 
suppose on account of the " thunders and light- 
nings, and fire," the law is here called a " fiery 
law." 

Mama. It was such, in a literal sense, Mary ; 
and not less so in its purifying and refining ten- 
dency, and consuming severity, when resisted and 



MORNING TWBNTY-FIPTH. 293 

disobeyed. Have you ever sufficiently reflected 
what it is to be set free from the " fiery" terrors 
of a law, " turning" (like the flaming sword of 
the Cherubim) " this way and that to keep the 
access of the tree of life," into the " glorious li- 
berty of the sons of God ?" For though the gos- 
pel has not taken so much as " one jot or tittle*' 
from the moral acquirement;s of Him who is 
" the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever " — we 
have a surety for their unerring performance in 
our stead ; provided we rest as unreservedly on 
Him as if we could do nothing of ourselves, yet 
" work out our salvation" with as much honest 
earnestness, as if we were still under the cove- 
nant whose conditions were, " Do this and live." 
Even under this preliminary and apparently 
harsher dispensation, it is said of Jehovah that 
H^ " loved his people," and that " His saints are 
in His hand." But remark the corresponding at- 
titude in which they are placed, of " sitting at 
his feet, and receiving his words ;" the usual ex- 
pressions for dutifully imbibing instruction in the 
East. Do you remember where Paul was said 
to have acquired his knowledge of the Jewish 
law? 

Mary. « At the feet of Gamaliel." 
Mary. Very right. And observe, it is not 
merely said they shall hear, but shall " receive" 



294 M0BNIN08 WITH MAMA. 

— ^that is, admit into their hearts^ and practise 
the precepts of the Almighty Lawgiver of Sinai, 
as delivered, at His command, by His servant 
Moses. 

Mary. Moses is called a ^< king," in the next 
verse ; I did not think he had been one. • 

Mama. The word in scripture often means 
simply a chief, or leader ; and evidently does so 
here, the object being to establish his superiority 
in rank to the other " heads of the people" re- 
presented as gathered round him. 

The particulars of the blessing bestowed by 
him on the assembled << tribes," we must pass 
over briefly ; partly on account of the obscurity 
inseparable from our imperfect knowledge of their 
distinct histories, and partly from my wish to 
conclude our review of the books of Moses, by 
reflections more immediately concerning our- 
selves. We may merely remark tlie station pro- 
phetically assigned to Judah as next in rank 
(though by no means so in the order of birth) 
to the elder of all the sons of Jacob, Reuben. 
Learned men have discovered a peculiar pro- 
priety in the petition that God would " bring 
Judah unto his people," and in sufficient num- 
b(^rs, and be a help unto him from his enemies ; 
because this tribe alone, with a remnant of Ben- 
jamin, and of the Levites, returned from capti- 



MORNING TWENTY-FIFTH. 295 

vity under Ezra, weak, desponding, and harassed 
by surrounding unbelievers. And as it was 
through the " seed of David" that God designed 
perpetuating his people, nothing could be more 
natural (though less called for by the then 
flourishing state of Judah) than this prospective 
petition. Levi and Benjamin, the other restor- 
ed tribes, you will observe, occur next in the 
prophetic train of thought suggested to Moses ; 
and the blessing upon the former is as ample and 
peculiar as befitted their consecration to the sa- 
cred office of the priesthood. But do you know 
to what Moses alludes in the remarkable expres- 
sion about Levi not " knowing " nor " acknow- 
ledging " his nearest and dearest ? The transac- 
tion is not new to you. 

Mama. Let me think. Oh I I remember, 
^n one of the rebellions against God, the sons of 
Levi were ordered to " slay every man his brother, 
and every man his companion and neighbour." 

Mama. Yes, after the making of the golden 
calf; and we remarked what a painfiil sacrifice 
these servants of God were called to for the sin 
of their leader Aaron. On a later occasion, viz. 
the seduction of the people to the worship of 
Baal Peor by the Moabites — Eleazar, the son of 
Aaron, voluntarily slew the chief ofienders, and 
by so doing obtained for his family the perpetual 



296 MORNINGS WITH MAMA. 

priesthood, and contributed to the honourable 
character of zeal for God here assigned to his 
tribe. 

Mary. Mama, what is the " Urim and 
Thummim ?" I have seen these words often in 
the Bible 

Mama. In themselves they signify " light" 
and " perfection ;" but their precise meaning, as 
applied to the divine oracles vouchsafed to the 
high priest of Israel, is nowhere explained in 
Scripture. We only know that this object of 
our ungratified curiosity, whatever it was, resid- 
ed in the breastplate of Aaron, which, as I dare- 
say you have read, and observed in Scripture 
prints, was composed of twelve precious stones, 
bearing the names of the twelve tribes of IsraeL 
The Jews' traditional opinion on the subject (for 
they have no more) is, that when God revealed 
Himself — as He is said to do — " by Urim and 
Thummim," He did so by a peculiar shining on 
the stones of the breastplate itself; while some 
have supposed it was by oracular sounds from 
the same quarter. All we know on so difficult a 
subject is, that without this mysterious symbol, 
even Aaron (the type of a greater mediator) 
durst not go in before the Lord. We are told 
in Exodus he was to wear it on his Jieart ; 
whence we may draw one lesson, as to the resi- 



MORNING TWENTY-FIFTH. 297 

dence there of all prevailing intercession on the 
one part, or saving divine influence on the other. 

Have you any idea why Benjamin is called 
" beloved of the Lord," and why the Lord was 
said to " dwell between his shoulders, and cover 
him all the day long ?" 

Mary. I am sure I don't know. 

Mama. Nor did I, my dear, till lately, that 
the temple of Jerusalem, that favoured residence 
of the glory of the Lord, actually stood on the 
portion of Benjamin ; and not, like the city itself, 
in the territory of the tribe of Judah. 

Of the other tribes we can only briefly notice, 
that Joseph has here (as in his partial father Ja- 
cob's blessing) a high rank and fertile portion 
assigned him; while that of the others corres- 
ponds remarkably with what has come down to 
us of their local position and chief characteristics. 
Above all, let us observe, that this comprehen- 
sive benediction ends as it began, by ascribing 
unrivalled glory and majesty to the " God of Je- 
shurun, who rideth on the heavens, and in his 
excellency on the sky ;" and by celebrating the 
peculiar happiness of a people " whose refuge is 
the Eternal God, and underneath whom are the 
Everlasting arms." Shall we not say with Mo- 
ses, " Happy art thou, O Israel I who is like un- 
to thee, O people, saved by the Lord ?" — or ra- 



298 MOBNINOS WITH MAMA. 

thcr, alasl (now that the glory has sadly de- 
parted irom Israel) with pious David, " Happy 
is the people that is in such a case I'* 

We must now enter on the painful task of 
bidding adieu to Moses, our edifying companion 
during so long a period. That we may do so, 
however, with more both of sympathy for him, 
and acquiescence in the righteous dispensation of 
God, look back to the verses we omitted yester- 
day, at the end of the 32d chapter, and see in 
what terms His ancient servant is warned of his 
approaching end. 

Mary. " Get thee up into this mountain Aba- 
rim, and behold the land of Canaan which I give 
unto the children of Israel for a possession — and 
die in the mount." Mama, it was a terrible thing 
to be told to go and " die I" 

Mama. My dear, do not even the best people 
among ourselves count such warnings merciful, 
and do we not pray against " sudden death " as 
a misfortune ? Moses knew, (and yoM know why) 
he was not to be permitted to enter Canaan, and 
therefore the view graciously vouchsafed him of 
its beauty and fertility, must have been hailed as 
a token of God's mitigated displeasure, and as a 
glorious earnest of that better country to which 
(as M'e know on the authority of an apostle) he 
1 ooked believingly forward. Nor is it otherwise 



MORNING TWENTY-FIFTR. 299 

now. These two things, a summons to depart, 
and a foretaste of the Christian's land of promise, 
blessed be God for it! frequently accompany 
each other ; and where is the real Christian who 
would not hail the one to be favoured with a full 
and joyful anticipation of the other? On this, 
still more than on the glowing picture of the 
earthly paradise before him, let us hope that the 
eyes of the venerable patriarch closed in peace, 
to open m that immortal inheritance whence we 
know he descended in a glorified body, to con- 
verse with the great " Prophet," whom God at 
length " raised up " among his people. 

The cause of his " sepulchre " being concealed 
by God I have already explained to you. Do 
you remember it ? 

Mary. Yes ; for fear idolatrous worship 
should be paid to it I am not surprised the Is- 
raelites should have " mourned thirty days " for 
good Moses, I feel really quite sorry to part with 
him, and don't know how to thank you for mak- 
ing me so well acquainted with him, and with all 
the history of the children of Israel. I hope I 
shall remember it, and not get bewildered again 
with the sacrifices, and purifications, and things 
that made it so difiicult. 

Mama. I hope not, my dear. But these, 
remember, had all their specific use, and wWi 



300 MORNINGS WITH BfAMA. 

by and bye, claim your most serious attcntioi 
as connected with the sacrifice of Christ, of whic i 
they are all more or less typicaL In the mea. 
time, I would fidn hope that the more obvious 
features of the dealings of God with the Israelite> 
in the wilderness, have left engraved on your 
young mind the great lessons they are so ^e!\ 
fitted to convey. Let me have the satisfactiou 
of hearing how they have impressed you. 

Mary. Mama, I think I know better thaii 
I did, how great and good God is ; and hoi 
wicked and ungratei^l people like ourselves can, 
be. 

Mama. Comprehensive knowledge, my deaf 
child, if it indeed includes right apprehension cf 
God, and a due estimate of the fallibility and loit 
state by nature of man. And blessed knowledge 
will it be, if, as intended by its divine author, 
the law of Moses performs its appointed office ot' 
a " schoolmaster," and brings you in more humi- 
lity, self-abasement, and dependence to the fe(: 
of Christ — the great " end of the law for right- 
eousness unto every one that belie veth." 



^: 






THE END. 



^ 



-f; 

4 

1. 1» 

i-'-V 
IS- 

III' 






Ir 



i 

1 



%. 




pre 1 1354